Effective procurement for schools - 10 top tips

1. Ensure that all proposed expenditure links to the School procurement strategy or School

improvement plan. Seek to challenge the requirement and the value for money of any proposed procurement.

2. Compare at least three suppliers to obtain best value for money, and not just in terms of cost but also quality.

3. Ensure that goods and/or services are well defined, and meet your specific needs and budget.

4. Ensure you contract with the supplier so have agreed terms and conditions to rely on.

5. Work collaboratively or use a buying club to obtain better discounts and tap into best value deals.

6. Think local and sustainable procurement first. Your local market and community is critical to

your school.

7. If capital funding isn’t available then consider other options to procure goods and services –

investigate operating leases to get goods or services when they are needed rather than when you can buy them all at once.

8. Identify efficiencies in your back-office spend to release funds for teaching and learning through a spend analysis of your current supply base.

9. Remember to comply with financial regulations and, where appropriate, UK and EU procurement regulations. Not doing so could get in you in a whole lot of trouble!

10. Remember that when it comes to procurement that planning is EVERYTHING! Give yourself enough time to work out your finance, route to market, procurement compliance and stakeholder engagement.

More about Schools Buying Club Schools’ Buying Club helps schools make improvements, through collaboration and shared knowledge in procurement and efficiency.Our aim is to harness group-buying power through our independent procurement advice (and managed service if required), to allow individual schools or clusters of schools to save an average of 25% of their back office budget. Membership is FREE and without commitment, and gives access to a library of information, including benchmarking and spend analysis, and education category expertise. Visit www.schoolsbuyingclub.com to find out more.