With partnering and collaboration being key themes in British politics these days, the House of Lords proved an excellent venue to mark the 20th anniversary of Partnership Sourcing Ltd (PSL).
This annual business partnering event attracted over 180 executives from business, Government and academia. PSL was established by the former Government minister, Lord Keith Joseph, as a joint DTI (now BIS)/ CBI initiative, to encourage the adoption of partnering principles across UK business and beyond.
PSL is collaborating with BSI to spearhead the widespread adoption of PAS 11000, the world’s first collaborative business relationship standard which provides a multi-stage approach to help organisations work together effectively. The framework enables an organisation of any size and sector to apply partnering good practice to ensure a consistent approach and establish processes to ensure that collaborative business relationships add value and deliver benefits.
Earlier this year, five companies – EMCOR Group (UK), Lockheed Martin UK, NATS, Raytheon Systems Limited and VT Group – received PAS 11000 certification and some 22 organisations are currently in the process of considering PAS 11000 certification.
At the House of Lords event, Lord Evans of Watford, Chairman of PSL, commented: “Having congratulated the first five companies to achieve PAS 11000 certification, we are now challenging other organisations to achieve this valuable and beneficial standard too.”
Chris Cundy, Director of Corporate Development at VT Group observed: “In tough economic times, cost cutting provides real opportunities for collaboration. Partnering is one of our corporate core values and so we welcome PAS 11000 because it provides a formalised process for organisations to work together effectively”
Congratulating PSL on its 20th anniversary, Howard Kerr, CEO of BSI Group, said: “We’ve been working with PSL since 2006/07 and we’re delighted to be building on that relationship.
“People tend to think of standards in technical terms but, increasingly, standards are being developed and applied to business practice – such as PAS 11000. PAS 11000 will become a fully fledged British Standard – as BS 11000 later this year – leading to an international standard, yet another example of Britain leading the way,” he added.
The publication of a Publicly Available Specification (PAS) is a step towards the establishment of the full British Standard. The corporate certification programme, launched in 2009, establishes a measurable independent assessment by BSI that creates an internal benchmark for continuous improvement and people development, together with validated, pan-industry recognition of an organisation’s collaborative profile.
“These are exciting times,” agreed David Smith, Director of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS). “We are looking forward to briefing and working with our new ministerial team and continuing to help promote PAS 11000.”
