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Learning to use E-Procurement

E-procurement specialist, Peter Robbins, explores the challenges faced by education establishments in adopting best practice, best value procurement.

Every facet of the public sector has its own unique transformational challenges in the process towards adoption of an effective procurement solution. The education sector, for example, has specific requirements that are very different to the public sector at large - or do they?

Public sector heads are looking for enhanced spend visibility, budget planning, budget stretch - more product for the same investment, reduction in rogue purchasing, low level training, mobile working and transparency amongst others. Put simply, saving time and money.

In the education environment, schools’ approach to processes is largely based on the ethos of their Head Teacher and Bursar in much the same manner as a small business follows the direction of its MD and FD. To that end, many consider their outlook as more diverse, which requires a fine balancing act. They have the challenge of providing a quality education whilst maximising budgets.

Taking the provision of IT as an example, the debate no longer focuses wholly on technology in the classroom - it is a given that classroom IT is good quality, instead it now resides on getting the IT there in the first place. More efficient procurement means quality education provision is delivered faster whilst better priced equipment means budgets can be used to purchase more or even better equipment.

However, schools are very focused on their needs for IT specification and they often have fluctuating volume requirements, which can mean IT suppliers are reluctant to engage in a relationship. Ultimately, schools find themselves managing numerous small suppliers to get best value, or alternatively, engaging with one big supplier that cannot necessarily offer best value across all areas.

This is juxtaposition to Gershon’s vision of joined up, shared and collaborative purchasing models. In fact, as a result of their needs many education establishments are experiencing the very ‘pay more, get less’ scenario that the public sector is trying to escape.

This is where electronic procurement can truly offer efficiency advantages by empowering one employee with the tools of a procurement professional, managing multiple supplier relationships all within one central purchasing hub. This type of best practice approach delivers real value by streamlining the procurement process and empowering users with purchasing information.

Put simply, the public sector’s sharpened focus on ‘smart working’ for savings, means something very different for the education sector, where the management of endless e-auctions, e-tenders and 24/7 procurement professionals is nothing but a luxury. Headmasters and bursars are striving to be more dynamic in their approach to adopting a procurement strategy and it is often the private sector developed solutions, of which some are accredited to the Catalist framework, that provide smaller organisations with the best practice zenith they are looking for.

Advanced, innovative and user-friendly e-procurement processes, particularly from the private sector, will no doubt spread more rapidly as a result of ‘The Efficiency Agenda’ and increased familiarity with technological change. Education establishments that feel they cannot operate within acknowledged models of procurement should investigate the best the private sector has to offer. Importantly, the more advanced private sector solutions are now integrating with SIMS.

As a good example, Bradford Grammar School (BGS) has had to ensure man hours are maximised and budgets stretched as far as they can reach. As a result, and considering the organisation’s ethos to offer nothing but the best, the IT department has embraced e-procurement as part of a more efficient purchasing strategy.

BGS adopted theitindex.co.uk, a solution that daily updates over 100,000 IT products from 1200 vendors and then lists them by best price and availability.

IT Network Manager, Simon Marriott, explains: “On average the solution is saving us in excess of two days a week in time we used to spend on researching, sourcing and comparing prices from multiple suppliers. That equates to eight days a month we now use to help users with issues and generally maintain the system to an even higher level.”

“Furthermore, since its implementation in 2003, we have saved in the region of 30% on our IT budget.”

The very latest technology is here for the taking, it is down to education establishments to re-engineer their business processes and take account of appropriate e-procurement measures if they are to hit efficiency and educational goals in the future.

Delivering the very best IT into the classroom in the shortest possible time and for the best price, every time is a reality. But it is down to a pro-active approach by education heads to unlock the potential of the next generation of best practice procurement.