Michael Swan, a Senior Procurement Consultant at Greenville Procurement Partners, specialises in building collaborative, long-term buyer-supplier partnerships. This session will focus on how to strengthen these relationships through improved communication, strategic alignment, and trust to drive mutual value and innovation.

As Trade Manager at InterTradeIreland, Caroline leads several cross-border programmes in tendering, sourcing and supply chain opportunities, this session will help give delegates insight into public and commercial opportunities across the island.

As the largest public transport project on the island, this session will provide delegates with invaluable insight into working with the MetroLink and opportunities for the supply chain.

Assistant Director of Procurement, Kevin Logan, will discuss the Housing Executive’s approach to procurement strategy and how they are looking to overcome potential barriers preventing companies from working with the Housing Executive with a new supplier engagement model.

This session will focus on the risks and challenges with traditional construction in the current environment (cost overruns, project delays, etc.) and how offsite construction/MMC empowers the public sector to deliver more infrastructure, faster and with less risk, despite budget constraints and skilled-labour shortages.

Lisa Beers, Head of the Social Value Unit at the Strategic Investment Board (SIB) NI, drives the implementation of PPN 01/21, which mandates a minimum 10% social value weighting in Northern Ireland public tenders. Lessons learned highlight that successful delivery requires early engagement, embedding social value into project design, and using outcome-based frameworks. This session will look at recent major projects and how social value has been embedded within the supply chain.

Louise Pickford, Head of Procurement at the Irish Prison Service, emphasises that successful procurement relies on strong, collaborative supplier relationships to drive innovation, mitigate risk, and deliver value. Working with the Irish Prison Service involves fostering trust-based partnerships, engaging early in the process, and aligning with strategic goals. Attendees to this session will learn how Irish Prisons engages with its supply chain and learn how to become a trusted supplier.