A roundup of news and comment about university procurement, brought to you in partnership with HEPA the professional development service for all university staff who buy goods and services.
Strategic leaders in universities need to take procurement seriously
Paul Clark, Director of Policy at Universities UK, reflects on six things he learned about the current state and future challenges of the sector at the recent HE Expo. First among these was that procurement is a strategic issue which deserves much greater attention than it currently receives. The combined purchasing power of universities is massive and could be leveraged much more effectively. This would have a number of benefits – from the obvious one of saving the sector money, to improving the sustainability of energy supply. Read online
Sustainable procurement resources
Following the closure of the Sustainable Procurement Centre of Excellence (SPCE) on Friday 18 October, nearly 300 documents have been moved across to the new HEPA website. They can be found by searching for ‘sustainability’ in the HEPA document search. If you’re not already registered to access documents on the HEPA website, you can visit the ‘Sign Up’ section in the top right hand corner of the home page.
CPD training from HEPA
HEPA’s programme of face-to-face CPD training is available to book on the HEPA website. These courses are particularly suitable for buyers outside of procurement teams, and are part of each consortium’s training offer to you. The next courses coming up are:
- Managing the Tender Process: 19 November, Leeds
- Fundamentals of Contract Law: 21 November, Manchester
- Introduction to Procurement: 3 December, London.
View the full course calendar and book online
Read the full HEPA training programme e-brochure
For information about running HEPA training within your own institution, contact Gill Birch at HEPA.
Nick Petford on procurement as a strategic function
Professor Nick Petford, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Northampton and Chair of Procurement UK, has written an article in University Business outlining his views on why procurement needs to be viewed as a strategic function within institutions, and how the Higher Education Procurement Academy (HEPA) can help make this happen. Read the article online
HEPA – Higher Education Procurement Academy
The professional development service for all university staff who buy goods and services. HEPA offers:
- Professional development training and workshops
- Competency frameworks and template job descriptions to help you benchmark purchasing roles
- Online forum, news, case studies and resources to keep you informed and help share best practice
- Procurement Maturity Assessments – a low-cost tool for benchmarking performance and driving improvement.
