2buy2 case study | Supporting the Church of England, creating Parish Buying

Case Study:

Parish Buying

Since 2011, our dedicated efforts in advancing strategic sourcing for the Church of England have culminated in the creation of an innovative procurement solution, Parish Buying, tailored to address diverse indirect expenditures, notably in the realm of Power and Gas. By consolidating their collective energy expenditures, we have consistently achieved substantial cost savings for the organisation.

The Objective

The Church of England and Church of Wales sought to leverage the power of bulk purchasing to secure competitive pricing across a diverse array of contracts. Their objective was to engage vetted suppliers known for their reliability, while also ensuring dedicated support for the churches involved in the contract establishment process. This strategic approach aimed to optimise procurement efficiency and foster a trustworthy network of suppliers.

The Challenge

Assisting churches:

Churches often do not have a dedicated procurement expert to help them through their contracts and tenders. It would be our job to ensure someone finding Parish Buying would be able to understand and be guided through each step of the procurement process.

Ensure suppliers’ reliability:

We needed to account for a supplier’s reliability and ensure they could uphold a standard high enough for the Church of England and Church of Wales. We also needed to make sure potential suppliers could focus on solutions that positively impacted the environment.

Adhere to strict deadlines:

Due to the nature of the contract on offer, it required constant attention from our procurement experts in order to make sure contracts were delivered in a timely manner.

Our Solutions

Easy to use website and online learning:

Parish Buying’s website is easy to follow and guides a user through to the solution they need. We also created online guides and an FAQ section to alleviate any problems someone may have upon entering the site.

Expert vetting and analysis process:

Our procurement experts make sure to analyse a supplier’s capability and efficiency before allowing them to become part of the many solutions Parish Buying offers.

Dedicated procurement expertise:

By making sure we have a team of procurement experts on hand to work through any manner of contract requirement or tender, churches do not need to stress over deadlines.

The Results

From its inception 8 years ago, we have grown Parish Buying to now include over 5,000 energy sites and this year achieved savings of approximately £5m whilst generating a consistent revenue stream for the Church of England.

This has led to new opportunities including being appointed to develop and operate a whole strategic sourcing plan for net carbon zero across the Church of England.

The Impacts & Benefits

As part of our agreement with the Church of England, we provide surge capacity support to their internal procurement team. This has included providing specialist procurement support in complex areas of procurement including FM, professional services and safeguarding.

Nick Jenni

National Procurement Officer for the Church of England

Due to us working so closely with the Church of England, we are in constant communication with Nick Jenni, Church of England’s National Procurement Officer. As an expert in web-based sales and distribution, Nick understood Parish Buying as the opportunity for growth that it is and we have worked together to achieve this ever since:

We’ve found that in creating the Church of England’s Buying Group, Parish Buying, there are multiple areas which are important to get right. Ensuring access to the right products through excellent procurement is a critical element, as are ensuring efficient systems for their delivery, including visibility of our data, management of opportunities and suppliers, clear governance structures and the culture of the teams driving these things. We have worked successfully with 2buy2 in delivering all of these elements for Parish Buying, as our procurement partner for more than ten years. In that time, we have grown the service together from nothing to a full, national procurement service with over 22,000 members. This simply wouldn’t have been possible, and it certainly wouldn’t have been the success it has been, without 2buy2.