The Department for Children, Schools and Families has announced the creation of the Educational Procurement Centre (EPC). This new initiative will be responsible for developing and delivering policy in relation to improving school efficiency through better procurement.
EPC will focus on supporting those responsible for procurement in schools through access to experience and knowledge in category management, e-Procurement, best practice and training opportunities.
For more information, visit:
DCSF Educational Procurement Centre
OPEN is the Online Procurement for Educational Needs marketplace for schools. It is a new eProcurement system designed specifically for schools. It will allow them the opportunity to purchase and pay for goods and services online in an easy to use and effective manner.
For more information, visit:
OPEN Online Marketplace for Schools
BECTA has established a range of IT procurement frameworks for education that comply with EU regulations.
Suppliers tender to be accepted onto a framework agreement. BECTA carries out all procurements in accordance with the requirements of the relevant EU directives. Becta usually follows a two-stage evaluation process, supported by an independent advisory board to ensure that the process is executed fairly.
The performance of suppliers that are awarded accreditation or a framework agreement is monitored to ensure that each supplier’s performance is maintained and that agreements meet the needs of the education sector.
Theframeworks provide a simple way for you to purchase the best value and most appropriate ICT products and services; all you have to do is run a mini competition between the suppliers on the framework.
BECTA has framework agreements for:
Infrastructure Services
Consultancy
Software Licences
Learning Platforms
Internet Services
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OGC Buying Solutions is an Executive Agency of the Office of Government Commerce in the Treasury. Their role is to deliver value for money gains for central civil government and the wider public sector through a dedicated professional procurement service.
They provide their customers with access to more than 500,000 products and services under their Catalist brand and a fully managed telecom service, energy and secure email, Intranet, data transfer and publishing services.
Their framework programme delivers a series of framework agreements covering Consultancy, Resourcing, Goods and Services and Solutions.
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Established constitutionally as a Joint Committee of Local Authorities in 1974, the Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation operates under the Local Authority (Goods and Services) Act 1970, and aims to provide a professional and cost effective purchasing and supply service to the customers in constituent and other authorities.
Over the years, the Organisation has developed into a highly efficient and commercially orientated public concern, with an annual turnover well in excess of £160 million.
The largest formally constituted Local Authority purchasing consortium in the UK YPO is governed by a Management Committee of elected representatives from constituent authorities. At present there are 13 members of which Doncaster is one.
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