Ardal Collaborative Procurement Service

Ardal was established to transform procurement across four South East Wales local authorities Cardiff, Monmouthshire, Torfaen and the Vale of Glamorgan. Recognising increasing legislative pressures, workforce shortages and rising expectations around community wellbeing benefits and decarbonisation, partners saw the need for a shared service capable of delivering consistent, future-focused procurement.

Ardal brings together procurement expertise, policy development, and category leadership into one integrated model, hosted by Cardiff Council. This includes oversight of £1.3bn annual spend and the management of major regional frameworks in construction and professional services.

By aligning strategy, processes and governance, Ardal enables the partners to deliver on the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 and the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Act 2023, ensuring that procurement is used as a lever for environmental, social and economic improvement.

The creation of Ardal introduced a new collaborative operating model built on shared governance, harmonised policies and transparent decision-making across all four authorities.

A dedicated Strategy and Development Team leads policy alignment, data analytics, training, and technology development, ensuring consistent implementation of procurement legislation and best practice. Digital governance tools, standardised tender documentation, and new Contract Procedure Rules support streamlined processes, stronger audit trails and improved management insight.

Ardal also introduced innovative initiatives including the THRIVE system for tracking community wellbeing benefit commitments, a joint climate and carbon reduction guidance developed with WRAP, and enhanced TOMS modelling for major collaborative projects.

New regional roundtables, working groups and task forces strengthen engagement across partners, suppliers and industry experts—ensuring the service remains agile, informed and aligned with regional and national priorities.

Ardal’s collaborative model has delivered measurable impact for partner authorities, suppliers and local communities. Unified procurement strategies and aligned policy frameworks ensure consistency and fairness, while improved training and shared resources have increased capability across the region.

Community Wellbeing Benefits delivery has accelerated, supported by THRIVE monitoring and a new Community Wellbeing Benefits Board, resulting in over £10m in commitments and targeted support for communities most in need.

The collaborative decarbonisation work is helping partners progress towards Net Zero by 2030, with new guidance driving carbon reduction across key spend areas. Enhanced reporting through PowerBI dashboards gives leaders clear visibility of performance, SME spend, carbon emissions, and contract outcomes.

Together, these improvements have strengthened governance, improved value for money, increased local economic impact, and positioned Ardal as a leading model of sustainable, scalable procurement collaboration.