Birmingham City Council

About Birmingham City Council

Birmingham is the largest Council in the UK representing over 1 million residents, spending over £1.75 billion with third parties per annum.  

In September 2023 the council issued 2 Section 114 notices as part of the plans to meet the council’s financial liabilities relating to equal pay claims and an in-year financial gap within its budget. 

The then Secretary of State for the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities appointed commissioners to exercise certain functions of the council as required and begin the improvement journey for Birmingham City Council. 

As part of improvement plans and opportunities to support delivery of savings across the Council, commissioners identified that significant efficiencies could be achieved by deploying strategic procurement planning, improved contract negotiation, optimising performance/contract and market data and building a high performing procurement function. 

A commercial reimagining programme commenced to design an enhanced operating model that services the collective needs of the Council and provides for the professionalisation of the function.  

tjb's Role

tjb was engaged as a strategic partner from July 2025 to July 2026 over multiple interdependent workstreams to Birmingham City Council’s (BCC) commercial and procurement team transformation reimagining programme, supporting a programme which has whole council transformation impact.

Our remit covered end to end commercial transformation including: supporting the development of the Business Case and financial model to secure funding for the new Target Operating Model,  PMO mobilisation and run phase delivery; procurement support including procurement specification, tendering and post award mobilisation for multiple Packages of Work; design and delivery of a digital Procurement Front Door; workforce design, job evaluation support,  workforce competency framework and recruitment support.

The Challenge

Birmingham City Council is undertaking a major commercial transformation programme to modernise procurement operations, stabilise procurement and commercial activity, strengthen strategic decision-making and identify financial efficiencies.  As part of this transformation, the Council:

• Required a new Commercial & Procurement Target Operating Model (TOM) and a clear investment case to secure approval for the next phase of delivery, 

• needed support to rapidly onboard external support following Cabinet approval

• needed to redesign its commercial workforce to ensure it had the right roles, capabilities, and structures in place to support long-term

• required a coordinated, well-governed mobilisation effort across multiple workstreams, including five complex Packages of Work (PoWs), people-related change, procurement operations, data and systems, and financial and benefits tracking

• identified the need for a Procurement Front Door, a single, standardised entry point for all procurement requests.

The Approach

tjb delivered a coordinated programme of activity organised into five integrated streams:

• Business case and investment modelling, developing a five year financial model, benefits forecasting, sensitivity analysis, and drafting of the Commercial Case, Economic and Management case to secure governance approval and funding.

• PMO mobilisation and operation, established governance, reporting cadence, integrated planning, RAID and benefits tracking and a full handover package to internal teams.

• End to end procurement delivery, requirements discovery, procurement strategy, market engagement, specification and tender pack development, bidder management, evaluation moderation, award recommendations, and post award mobilisation support

• Procurement Front Door design and enablement, stakeholder mapping, To Be workflow design, unified request pro forma, triage assessment and prioritisation model, digital workflow automation (routing, alerts, dashboards), training materials and communications strategy.

• Commercial workforce design, development of 14 job descriptions, Job Evaluation Panel support, objective job comparison and matching, and staff consultation materials, along with workforce role competency framework and recruitment support.

Across all streams, tjb combined rapid mobilisation with rigorous governance: facilitated workshops, stakeholder briefings, standardised templates and artefacts, knowledge transfer, and a focus on deliverables.

The Results

tjb’s integrated delivery produced measurable, programme level outcomes that materially advanced FTOM Phase One and created a durable foundation for future phases.

Financial and strategic assurance

A robust Commercial Case and five year financial model were delivered to HM Treasury Green Book standards, securing Cabinet approval and transformation funding to mobilise Phase One. The model included sensitivity scenarios and delegated procurement authority to enable rapid resourcing.

Programme governance and delivery control

A fully mobilised PMO provided a single source of truth: baselined integrated plan, Plan on a Page for executives, weekly mobilisation working group, and standardised reporting packs. This enable effective decision making and improved cross workstream coordination.

RAID management moved from reactive to proactive, with clear owners, mitigation plans, and escalation routes.

Rapid, compliant procurement mobilisation

All four core Packages of Work were taken through end to end procurement within a four month window, producing market ready tender packs, evaluation processes, and award recommendation reports.

Post award mobilisation and supplier onboarding were executed to ensure suppliers were operationally ready and governance structures were in place from day one.

Operational intake and demand management

The Procurement Front Door replaced multiple ad hoc request routes with a single, automated intake that enforces metadata standards, objective triage, and prioritisation rules. This reduced duplication, improved request quality, and shortened time to triage.

Providing procurement leaders better visibility support requests, workload distribution, enabling better resource allocation.

Workforce readiness and fairness

Fourteen role profiles aligned to FTOM pillars were produced and presented to the Job Evaluation Panel with structured briefing packs. Objective matching criteria, role comparison tables, FAQs and guidance materials supported a transparent consultation and transition process.