Partnership at OCS: Collaboration That Delivers in Practice

Partnership at OCS means working closely with customers to deliver well, make decisions together, and improve over time.

It shapes how our teams work every day: how we listen, how we respond, and how we adapt as priorities change. This matters in complex and often mission-critical environments, where service continuity, trust, and clear accountability are essential.

OCS has long-standing relationships across the public and private sectors, built through consistent delivery and shared responsibility. This way of working has also been recognised through industry awards for partnership delivery, leadership, and social value. Those recognitions are important because they reflect both the outcomes achieved and the way they are delivered: through openness, collaboration, and practical improvement.

Our TRUE Values, Trust, Respect, Unity, and Empowerment, support this approach. They guide how we structure contracts, govern performance, and work with customers to deliver the best outcomes for people and places.

Collaboration Built Into Delivery

OCS designs collaboration into the operating model of each contract.

That means moving beyond one-way reporting to build shared insight, joint priorities, and co-owned improvement activity. Across live public sector contracts, including HM Land Registry and the UK Health Security Agency, this approach is part of everyday delivery.

These contracts use a consistent collaboration model, including:

• Joint customer surveys to understand service experience
• Shared customer journey mapping and workshops
• Co-owned Continuous Improvement Plans
• Live dashboards used by both customer and OCS teams to track performance, milestones, and improvement actions

This creates a clear view of what is working, where improvement is needed, and how decisions will be made.

Partnership That Performs at Scale

Structured collaboration supports consistent performance across large and complex estates.

OCS’s partnership with the Government Property Agency was recognised at the Premises & Facilities Management Awards, where OCS received the Partners in Corporate, Public Sector award.

The award recognised collaborative work with customers and delivery partners to roll out a new operating model across a national estate. By aligning governance, systems, and performance reporting from the start, the partnership supported consistency at scale while maintaining transparency and accountability.

Partnership Beyond Service Delivery

Strong partnerships depend on people working together under pressure, as well as the right processes and contract structures.

This is especially important in healthcare environments, where collaboration directly supports safety, experience, and continuity of care.

In 2024, the OCS team working at Royal Papworth Hospital won the Partnership Award for Best Operational, Healthcare, alongside on-site partners and the NHS Trust. The award recognised a sustainable, high-performing partnership model built on transparency, shared accountability, and continuous improvement.

Within a demanding hospital environment, OCS worked closely with clinical teams and delivery partners to introduce robust reporting, joint governance, and shared improvement mechanisms. This included a jointly agreed hospital charter and a Joint Efficiency Group, giving teams a structured forum to identify issues early, share insight, and agree on improvements together.

Leadership That Sustains Long-Term Partnerships

Successful partnerships rely on credible and consistent leadership.

At the PFM Awards 2025, OCS Account Director Colin Rushforth was named Account Director of the Year for his leadership on the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service and Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service contract.

The award highlighted a 14-year partnership built on trust, transparency, and consistently high performance. Through periods of significant change, strong leadership helped maintain stability across a critical national estate while continuing to support improvement and long-term value.

This recognition reflects individual leadership, and the wider importance of continuity, accountability, and shared purpose in sustaining successful customer relationships.

Partnership Across Complex Operational Environments

OCS applies the same collaborative principles across private sector and industrial environments where continuity, compliance, and flexibility are critical.

In complex manufacturing settings, including work with Molson Coors, OCS partnered closely with the customer to stabilise services following a challenging incumbent transition. Through open-book costing, joint governance, and regular engagement, services were stabilised, trust was rebuilt, and disruption was minimised while protecting operational continuity.

Over time, the partnership strengthened and services expanded in line with business needs.

Similar approaches are applied across other regulated and high-risk environments, including work delivered for Jaguar Land Rover and Collins Aerospace. In these settings, compliance, security, and waste management require joint oversight, early issue resolution, and shared accountability.

Data-Led Improvement and Shared Ownership

Shared data plays an important role in partnership at OCS.

Through platforms such as OCS Live, customers and contract teams can access real-time dashboards covering performance, cost, quality, ESG, and compliance. This visibility supports joint reviews, informed decision-making, and Continuous Improvement Plans agreed and governed together.

Across a range of estates, from commercial portfolios to cultural and heritage settings, efficiencies have been identified collaboratively and reinvested to improve service quality, resilience, and customer experience.

Technology supports this process by giving teams better insight. People remain at the centre of decision-making, using data to focus action where it will make the greatest difference.

Collaboration Driving Sustainability and Innovation

Partnership also supports how OCS delivers sustainability outcomes.

Working with customers in complex technical environments, OCS has implemented shared baselines, joint waste audits, and improvement trackers. These have helped reduce cost, carbon, and waste to landfill.

Innovation partnerships show the same approach in practice. With the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, OCS worked closely with the customer to pilot smart building technology. Shared insight and real-time data helped identify energy, water, and maintenance savings while supporting long-term asset performance.

These examples show how technology can enable better outcomes when it is connected to operational insight, customer priorities, and clear governance.

Independent Recognition, Applied Consistently

Across public services, healthcare, manufacturing, and technical environments, OCS continues to receive industry recognition for partnership delivery, leadership, and social value.

Together, these recognitions point to a consistent way of working. Collaboration at OCS is embedded in live contracts, applied across different sectors, and focused on practical outcomes for colleagues, customers, and communities.

Partnership Built for the Long-Term

OCS’s Collaborative Business Relationships Management System is fully operational, with a clear pathway towards BSI accreditation for ISO 44001.

This strengthens collaboration as a core organisational capability. For customers, it means clarity, trust, and shared ownership. It means decisions are made together when priorities change or challenges arise. It also means improvement is continuous, structured, and focused on the outcomes that matter most.

Partnership works best when it is visible in everyday delivery. For OCS, that means bringing people, technology, and responsible practice together to help customers, colleagues, and communities be their best.