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Academies move to collective procurement approach
Posted 7 October 2014 | 
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Academies across the UK are increasingly taking up collaborative procurement practices to deliver better value for money, a new survey has shown. Yet curiously the survey, carried out by the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA), also shows that authority schools are actually declining in their use of collaborative procurement.
Academies are turning to group buying in partnership with other Academies, either formally or informally. 45% of primary and 40% of secondary level academies say that they've engaged in this activity - this is a jump of 5% and 6% respectively in just a year.
Whilst this trend towards Academies seeking better value for money is a positive step from taxpayers' perspective, there is still a long way to go. There is still a reluctance to move too radically towards buying group procurement across many different cost categories. This may be in part due to the historic reliance of schools pre-Academy status on their local authorities to manage their larger procurement spend and their tendency to be risk averse and conservative in nature.
However, as more and more Academies take up the Buying Group approach, there will be even more evidence of significant total cost savings and value improvement, and therefore I predict that this trend will continue to grow. The one caution I would raise though is the need for Academies to manage the group procurement to ensure that complacency doesn't set in. And it's very important that supplier performance is monitored and shared across schools to ensure that suppliers are kept on their toes at all times.
One final point relates to sustainable procurement. We see little evidence of buying groups identifying eco-friendly business and school supplies and bulk buying to reduce costs. We think that a lot of schools want to reduce costs but also demonstrate their green credentials too. That's why BSA Buying Group helps schools to reduce their overhead costs but also offers special price discounts for schools at GreenBuying.co.uk This is a sister website which sources eco products from around the UK, such as recycled stationery, non-toxic cleaning supplies, eco computers, recycling bins, children's playground equipment made from plastics diverted from landfill.
ENDS
by M Roper | 7 October 2014
