In today’s competitive market, main contractors and their supply chain partners are constantly seeking new ways to work as efficiently as possible. That is why construction and infrastructure company, Morgan Sindall, has partnered with Construction Industry Solutions (COINS) to develop and launch the COINS iPortal to its supply chain partners.
The COINS iPortal is an online service which can consolidate major supply chain processes, such as pre-qualification information collection, vendor vetting and approval, performance measurement and 360° relationship assessment, and tender communications, under one system.
It is used by Morgan Sindall to provide its subcontractors and other supply chain partners with a free facility to access data associated with its trading relationships including order and bidding history, as well as the opportunity for Morgan Sindall and its subcontractors to feedback on each other’s performance. The aim of this is to facilitate the continual improvement of both parties, with a view to ensuring they both deliver against Morgan Sindall’s exacting safety, quality and programme requirements.
COINS iPortal supports both vendor self-registration and complete electronic pre-qualification questionnaires (PQQ), either standalone or in conjunction with other third party data service providers. Morgan Sindall, in this instance, uses iPortal to seamlessly integrate with its online pre-qualification data collector, Builder’s Profile. “The integration between COINS iPortal and Builder’s Profile was key to the project to ensure we maintained up-to-date information on our supply chain,” says Martin Pitt, commercial director of Morgan Sindall.
Morgan Sindall will provide project performance feedback assessments to its supply chain partners through the COINS iPortal. These are then available to the supply chain partners for review, with the ability to reply, challenge or comment upon the assessments. Likewise, key supply chain partners can be invited to assess Morgan Sindall on its performance through a 360°relationship assessment.
The use of iPortal complements Morgan Sindall’s emphasis on collaborative working and building long-term relationships, helping tofulfill its ISO 9001 and BS11000 requirements.
Martin Pitt comments: “Good working relationships are key to a successful partnership and can only be achieved through effective communication and expectation exchanges between ourselves and our supply chain partners. The collaboration with COINS and its iPortal will assist us in achieving open and honest long term working relationships and to efficiently share views and ideas.”
Barbara White, Head of e-Business for COINS, remarked: “It is COINS’ policy to work in partnership with our customers to help improve their business efficiencies and we welcome the contribution Morgan Sindall has made during this collaboration.
