Following the publication of the North Eastern Universities Purchasing Consortium’s (NEUPC) annual report, Maria Langham describes the consortium’s recent achievements and how it plans to support universities in their mission to deliver world-class education in the future.
The North Eastern Universities Purchasing Consortium’s (NEUPC) 2013-14 annual report reveals significant growth in cash efficiency savings and collaborative spend for its members.
Key highlights include:
- An increase in collaborative spend to £218m, up by £25.8m on the previous year’s figures
- Member cash savings of £14.8m, an increase of £1.3m on the previous year
- An average return of £84 for every £1 each member has spent on subscription fees.
- Implementation of spend analysis tools to enable members to strategically manage their spend
- Significant sustainable procurement developments to embed sustainability in the procurement cycle
- Member engagement and NEUPC’s innovative lead-institution model
NEUPC is currently building on its not-for-profit shared service model – a unique unrivalled offering within the English higher education regional consortia designed to provide flexible and value added support to NEUPC members. It is also running its graduate procurement trainee programme launched in 2013-14 to develop future sector procurement professionals.
Hari Punchihewa, NEUPC chair and deputy chief executive and finance director at the University of Derby, says: “NEUPC’s plan for 2014-15 focuses on helping members achieve their cost saving targets through procurement, delivering added value through quality reporting, expert advice and providing specialist resources at critical times.
“It also focuses on working with Procurement England Ltd (PEL) and other regional consortia. This is to take out duplication and collaborate to negotiate the best contracts for all consortia members. Already, the work of the consortium demonstrates that we continue the good work done in previous years by driving forward further efficiencies to meet our strategic goals.”
Download the NEUPC 2013-14 annual report
Maria Langham is the marketing manager at NEUPC
