Top tips for saving
your school money…
…the 45 minute
makeover!
Who are Schools’ Buying Club?
Your dedicated procurement team supporting you to deliver value for money,
and ensuring your school is complaint when buying best quality products and
services!
SBC has won the Education Investor ‘Procurement Service of the Year’ award
two years running and was the finalist at the national Government
procurement awards 2014!
We are an accredited provider of quality services and a trusted partner to
over 1000 schools.
An Impossible task?
No – But not far off!
Cleaning
Energy
Waste Management
Stationery
Finance system
MIS system
ICT
New build
Payroll
Grounds maintenance
Sports equipment
Electronic payments
Learning resources
Transport
Outsourced catering
Paper
PAT testing
ICT services
TUPE
Furniture
Build maintenance
Fire alarm
Photocopiers
Food ingredients
Temporary workers
Uniform
Website
Banking
Books
Insurance
Fire extinguishers
Laptops
Servers
Security
Key holding
Governor clerk
Broadband
Sports kit
Minibus
School events
School trips
School lettings
Gym equipment
Mobile phones
Whatever else the head
wants!
Your five step approach
to healthy purchasing…
Step one
- Nails not jails…
Compliance and the law
Step two
- Detox and cleanse…
Understanding the current position
Step three
- Keeping your figure(s) in check…
Importance of benchmarking and real case studies
Step four
- Maintaining the new (fitness) regime…
Keeping ahead of the game
Step five
- Weight matters…
Purchasing with other schools and sharing information
Nails not jails…
compliance and regulations
…keeping you, your Head and your Governors out of
trouble. A short overview of the regulatory and compliance
aspects of procurement
• Public funding – Schools subject to the same procurement rules as
any other Government body.
• Fair, open and transparent competition
• Price, benchmarking and ensuring value for money
• ‘Zero’ cost contract still need to be tendered!
• More focus on school spending
• EU directives – changes afoot!
Nails not jails…
compliance and regulations
…thresholds and appropriate tender approach
Spend / Type
Process
Ave duration
£1 - £1k
Telephone quotes
1 – 5 days
£1k- £30k
Request for quote
5 – 15 days
£30k - £172K
Formal tender
15 – 30 days
Above £172k
OJEU tender
Min 90 days
ICT over £30k
E-Auction
10 days
South Staffordshire College saved £16k on ICT by taking the time to assess the most
appropriate tender strategy.
Detox and cleanse…
…the importance of contract reviews, advice on how to
place new contracts and deal with toxic contracts
• Ensure new contract terms suit you, not the supplier
• Keep on top of contract management, are the suppliers meeting
your expectations?
• Double check ‘rollover’ contracts and termination notices / tie
ins.
• Seek advice if you think your contracts are ‘toxic’ or have been
mis-sold - MFDs!
Keeping your figure(s)
in check…
…saving your school money and real case studies of what
other schools have done
• Key categories where money can be saved while maintaining
quality: Cleaning, Catering, Photocopiers and ICT
• Denbigh and Challney High Schools - Cleaning
• Boutcher Primary - Photocopiers £41k
• South Staffordshire College – Engineering equipment
• Bright Futures Educational Trust 50% saving – Payroll
• Bellevue Place Education Trust – Stationery 52% saving
Keeping your figure(s)
in check…
…use readily available data to benchmark your
spend regionally
“Thank you very much for providing our School
with this Benchmarking Report. It is beautifully
and clearly laid out and will provide Finance Staff
and Governors with the means to decipher what
can sometimes be a minefield of data to trawl
through. This will be of tremendous help to know
where we are in comparison to that of similar
schools to Heron Primary and to improve/adjust
our budgeting strategies moving forward”
Karen Gibbs – Heron Park
Maintaining the new
(fitness) regime…
…implementing a central contracts register, alert system
and forward procurement plan
• Create a contract register and know when your contracts are
due to expire and what termination notice is needed.
• Put a plan together working back from contract end points.
• Start with the top 5 or 10 contracts at your school this doesn't
need to be ‘big bang’
• Raise the importance of procurement at Finance and Resource
committee’s
Weight matters…
…the benefits of, and how to, implement collaborative
procurement initiatives
• Discuss the opportunity with schools in your local area to set up
a procurement or buying board.
• Start with something easy. i.e. Not ICT! Ensure all members
receive value to drive the desire to want to do more.
• Tap into readily available information any school can easily and
quickly access.
Weight matters…
…Start a procurement board with regional schools
Gloucester Schools’ Partnership (Maintained group)
39 – member schools
• Grounds maintenance
• Photocopiers
• Temporary workers
• £1000’s saved
Bright Futures Educational Trust (Academy Trust)
10 – member schools
• Payroll
• Grounds Maintenance
• 2015 Procurement plan already being developed
• £10,000’s saved
Pilgrim Learning Trust (Academy Trust and Maintained group)
26 – member schools
• Payroll
• Monthly procurement forum
• Online collaboration and information sharing between
Business Managers
Join Schools’ Buying Club today - FREE!
Visit our stand for....
•Your free instant* benchmarking report
•Tender timescales and planning information
•Help tips and guidance
•Find out about our essential schools procurement ‘Toolbox’
www.schoolsbuyingclub.com
0845 257 7050
Rob Yems
Procurement Director
Schools’ Buying Club
Email Rob.yems@schoolsbuyingclub.com
Telephone: 07850064210
* Instant for maintained schools (Academy 5 working days) e-mailed to your inbox in an hour!