THE true power of the Buy North-East campaign, by North- East Chamber of Commerce and The Northern Echo, is that it has the potential to be a real win-win for the public and private sector.

Those local authorities that embrace the value of procuring locally know that they will get the service they need and they are investing in the local economy.

For the businesses that win the contracts, it enables them to push for greater success, to expand their ventures and to recruit more people. For the wider business community, there are additional benefits as more money circulates locally.

The chamber continues to lobby for greater awareness on this issue and held a meeting last week to bring businesses and local authorities together, which was an important step in making sure firms have the chance to contribute to the work of the North-East Improvement and Efficiency Partnership on procurement.

The partnership is made up of the 12 councils in the region looking at how they can work better together. On procurement, there is a concern this will just be about aggregated contracts to achieve economies of scale. While there is an element of this, local government leaders have made clear they expect it to be far more wide-ranging.

Some of the anticipated benefits include ensuring there is consistently good communication between buyers and suppliers, high-quality feedback, greater awareness of suppliers, early publicising of opportunities and a focus on spending categories – to name but a few.

It could also make the process simpler by building on harmonised procurement documents to create a system of registration and accreditation which applies across all councils.

One positive element is that there are a number of steps that can be taken quickly and simply – and chamber will be doing what it can to help members.

The end result won’t be a parochial, protectionist system but, hopefully, a more strategic approach ensuring the North- East gets maximum benefit from £3.5bn procurement spending each year.

■ Written by James Ramsbotham, chief executive of the North-East Chamber of Commerce.