Utilities Company: Turnaround Programme Management

Within this plan was a third-party spend programme targeting a minimum of 5% sustainable benefit across a £2bn cost base. Sponsored by the CFO and led by the commercial & procurement director, the programme aimed to deliver measurable financial improvement and build stronger commercial capability across the business.

The commercial function needed to establish a clear portfolio of initiatives across multiple categories, supported by robust governance, reporting, and benefit tracking. Existing processes lacked central visibility, consistency, and accountability, making it difficult to measure progress or prioritise effectively. At the same time, category management and sourcing best practices were applied unevenly across the organisation. 4C was asked to design a structured programme that would embed these disciplines business-wide, enable effective decision-making, and ensure measurable delivery against the turnaround targets.

4C designed and implemented a structured procurement programme, ensuring governance, consistency, and transparency across all third-party spend initiatives.

• Defined governance structures, terms of reference, and accountabilities
• Designed reporting templates, meeting cadence, and escalation processes
• Introduced a stage-gate process for executive review and approval
• Built benefit-tracking and risk-management frameworks alongside Finance
• Provided a content-based Project Management Office (PMO) to deliver insight and ensure benefits were realised
• Supported the commercial function in embedding new ways of working and cross-functional collaboration