DRKNOWD LIMITED (Durham)

Procurement & Social Value

Our strategic business services include:

DRKNOWD LIMITED is a strategic business consultancy company specialising in Procurement, Social Value and wider Business Strategy.

We have a most unique experience of both global private sector

and public sector procurement, nationally, regionally and locally.

Pragmatic advice, innovative ideas and proper outcomes.

"Maximising the value of every £ and doing good in local communities"

"Delivering Social Value via procurement is an important investment in the future of our communities  - when funding is scarce it's not a choice, it's an absolute necessity - Procurement just became hugely important" !

Lead Consultant

Our Chief Executive and Lead consultant (Darren Knowd) has over 30-years’ experience of senior Procurement and Social Value roles in both the global private sector and public sector.

Experience

Darren commenced his career at General Motors Ltd in Liverpool as a graduate commercial apprentice before moving to Nissan Motor Manufacturing in Sunderland and became the Purchasing Manager at Nissan Europe and held senior roles in Barcelona, Paris offices and the European vehicle design company  in Cranfield in the UK.

He studied a master’s degree in business administration (MBA) at Durham University Business School before leading five local government district Councils and merging eight Council procurement teams into a centralised team at the new unitary Durham County Council.

In 2021 he became Head of Procurement, Sales and Business Services and led a team of 700 employees consisting of £700 million of procurement spend, £25 million of commercial sales, and £15 million of people resources providing business administration and project services to the Council.

He initiated and led a collaborative place-based social value project “The County Durham Pound” working collaboratively with ten County Durham based organisations and won a national social value award as the “Best Public Sector Social Project” in 2023. ( https://countydurhampound.co.uk ).

He became Chair of the Local Government Association (LGA) National Advisory Group (NAG) in 2020 and led procurement nationally during the pandemic working together with national colleagues and several central government departments, and as LGA NAG Chair he contributed to Cabinet Office Procurement Policy, the National Procurement Policy Statement and the new Procurement Act 2023.  https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3159 

Darren was also the LGA nominated Chair of the National Social Value Task Force from 2017 to 2023 and working together with the incredibly talented Social Value Portal https://socialvalueportal.com the group launched the National TOMS (Themes, Outcomes and Measures) to provide social value definitions and values to allow social value to be objectively included in procurement projects. https://socialvalueportal.com/solutions/national-toms .

Other Knowledge

In addition to these experiences and achievements, he has an MBA, is a graduate of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply, and is a practitioner in PRINCE2, Managing Strategic Programmes, APMG Better Business Cases (HMT 5-Case Model) and is a Lean 6-Sigma Champion via www.catalystconsulting.co.uk , and is also a member of the Institute of Directors.

Podcast

Here is a recent Podcast via Efficio Spotlight on Procurement series - https://www.efficioconsulting.com/en-gb/resources/insight/in-the-north-east-of-england-social-value-isnt-a-choice-its-a-necessity-using-local-government-procurement-as-a-force-for-good/

Conferences

Here is our CEO speaking with Cabinet Office, Ministry of Defence, STAR Procurement at the 2023 National Social Value Conference in Westminster ahead of the new Procurement Act - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJl2OGWyt7o&list=PL9xWnP1O6Y3M0pfmb5D6IBKacUxl7P2vJ&index=4

Privacy Policy Statement



DRKNOWD Limited respects your privacy, and we are committed to protecting your personal data - A copy of our policy is available on request to drknowdltd@gmail.com