• Procurement

Procurement

Learning providers are businesses in their own right and there is a need for them to be effective and efficient. Procurement is a critical process where best practice can often make substantial savings.

The RSCs can support these best practices by:

• signposting appropriate support networks and resources
• identifying case studies where successful procurement processes are evident
• providing advice and guidance on organisational procurement effectiveness
• providing opportunities that promote collaboration between providers.

The current economic climate has brought the need for everyone in education to maximise efficiencies into sharp focus. The importance of using procurement best practice and tools to enable all of our community of providers (further education colleges, sixth form colleges, work-based learning providers and adult and community learning) to make savings and efficiency gains has never been more of a priority. The spend on goods and services is substantial and currently exceeds £2 billion per year.

Within FE, procurement is supported by the work of the Association of Colleges (AoC) Procurement team (England), Crescent Purchasing Consortium, The Advanced Procurement Universities and Colleges Consortium (Scotland), the Welsh Further Education Procurement Consortium and Colleges Northern Ireland (ANIC) in Northern Ireland.

For further information on JISC RSC procurement services, contact steve.durham@sunderland.ac.uk