Following another year of exponential growth, Bloom Procurement Services has been announced winner of the High Growth & Ambition Award in the North East Business Awards 2020.
The awards recognise excellence and innovation across the North East’s business community. The ceremony’s prestigious High Growth & Ambition Award shines a light on businesses who have demonstrated exceptional levels of growth over the past year.
The recognition caps off a record year for the Gateshead-headquartered procurement specialist, which has seen turnover rocket to £212 million and net profits more than double in the space of just 12 months. This extraordinary growth has been fuelled by a significantly increased public sector customer base, as well as an increase in the number and scale of procurement projects. Last autumn also saw Bloom celebrate its appointment as the exclusive delivery partner to the multi-billion-pound NEPRO³ public sector procurement solution, the faster alternative to traditional frameworks. Today, Bloom is the trusted partner to over 370 public sector organisations, including 49% of all UK councils.
Adam Crampsie, managing director at Bloom Procurement Services, said: “It’s amazing to look back at how Bloom has grown over the past year. We’ve gone from strength to strength in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and are incredibly proud of what we, as a business, have been able to achieve through such an unprecedented period of time. The High Growth & Ambition Award is a fantastic accolade for the business and testament to the hard work and commitment of everyone who has played a part in Bloom’s exciting journey so far.”
Despite the economic and employment challenges of COVID-19, Bloom has remained committed to North East job creation and continued to accelerate its recruitment drive at an impressive pace, increasing its headcount by 18 since March alone. The introduction of lockdown also saw Bloom swiftly and successfully adapt to a fully remote working model across the organisation, ensuring it could protect the wellbeing of staff while continuing to thrive and expand as a business.
Embedded deep with Bloom’s ambitious growth plans is its unwavering commitment to social value. The past year has seen the business generate more than £28 million in social value activity, with over £2.6 million given back to the public sector for local job creation and support to community-based projects. In December 2019, Bloom was the first procurement specialist to achieve Level Two of the Social Value Certificate, awarded by Social Value International, and the business is now committed to working towards achieving Level Three. Based on the business’ current growth, social value is set to be embedded into billions of pounds worth of public sector contracts within the next five years, driving much-needed growth back into local economies.
Over the past year, Bloom’s supply chain has continued to grow with a staggering 88.9% of accredited suppliers being of SME status and £97 million worth of projects have been awarded to local suppliers – a number that continues to grow on a daily basis. Recently, the business has stepped up in support of its SME suppliers to act as a representative for the Kickstart scheme, a £2 billion government initiative that provides all UK businesses with funding to create new six-month work placements for young, unemployed people. By bringing together its marketplace of suppliers, Bloom is helping SMEs to meet the government’s minimum criteria of 30 job placements per application and reap the full benefits of the scheme.
