August 2013 – July 2014 Procurement Report
PROCUREMENT REPORT
1 August 2013 to 31 July 2014
Prepared by Anne Martin, Head of Procurement
Submitted to
Executive Board – 10 February 2015
Audit Committee – 17 February 2015
Glasgow Caledonian University - Finance Office – Procurement
Page 1 of 6
August 2013 – July 2014 Procurement Report
1 Executive Summary
1.1 Introduction
This Procurement Report documents performance over the period August 2013 to July 2014.
1.2 Procurement Structure
The University utilises a shared services arrangement with Advanced Procurement for Universities and Colleges (APUC) for the delivery of the Procurement function. This arrangement currently provides a Head of Procurement (0.5 FTE), a Procurement Manager – Advanced (1.0 FTE) and a Procurement Manager – Operational (1.0 FTE).
2 Procurement Strategy and Action Plan
The Procurement Strategy, agreed in 2012, supported the University in the achievement of the Strategy 2015. Key areas covered by this procurement strategy were: collaboration, key stakeholder engagement, management of the supply base and sustainability.
This Procurement Strategy is supported by an action plan which ensures that Procurement has aligned its activities to the University Strategy. The plan covers Actions such as increasing the University’s use of collaborative agreements (as recommended in the Diamond Review), a review of all Procurement processes and documentation to align with Scottish Government and APUC templates, and the introduction of a managed Supplier/Contract Management process to ensure the University is getting the best provision from its key suppliers.
An update on the progress of the Procurement plan for the Strategy 2015 was submitted to Audit Committee in October. The Procurement Strategy is being redrafted to support the University 2020 Strategy and will be delivered to Audit Committee for approval in October 2015.
2.1 Procurement Capability Assessment
Procurement Capability Assessment (PCA) is a pan-Scotland improvement programme to develop procurement capability against a framework of common standards across public and publicly funded bodies.
Since the University’s previous audit assessment in 2011/2012, the Scottish Government have updated the question set used in the audit, to make the process a lot more rigorous and challenging. During April 2014, Procurement undertook a trial exercise to measure our position in relation to the new assessment. Our score for this assessment was 54% against a score of 73% from the previous question set in 2011/2012, reflecting the challenging direction of the audits.
As a result of this trial the Head of Procurement produced an internal Improvement Plan identifying a range of areas to enhance our procurement capability.
At the official audit in November 2014, our score increased from 54% at the trial to 69% on the actual audit. This score is against a sector average of 65%. APUC Auditor comment – “…your team… have clearly expended a lot of time and skill in getting all of the procedural guidance and documents in place. These and the developing capacity to measure procurement performance and improvements constitute a sound foundation upon which to build. Your progression into the top quartile of capability assessment is looking to be a smooth one.”
A diagrammatical report of the University’s progress is shown at Appendix B.
2.1.1 GCU Procurement Journey
The University has developed the GCU Procurement Journey, as the foundation of its procurement processes and procedures; this journey was adapted from the Scottish Government Procurement Journey. The journey is intended to support all levels of procurement activities and to help manage the expectations of stakeholders, customers and suppliers whilst facilitating best practice and consistency across the public sector. By following the journey, Procurement helps stakeholders to manage the procurement process and reduce the risk of challenge.
2.1.2 Stakeholder mapping, engagement and communication
All key University stakeholders have been identified and formalised within a Stakeholder/Communication Plan and Procurement has commenced an engagement plan of formal quarterly meetings.
Due to the volume of activity in Estates, particularly during Heart of Campus works, Procurement has continued to strengthen its relationship with Estates through the placement of a Procurement Manager in Estates one day a week. The increased access to procurement within this department has been extremely welcomed by the Estates professionals and this visibility has in turn shown an increase in Procurement involvement in Estates capital projects and tenders for a variety of professional and building services.
This period has also seen the introduction of a new Procurement website containing guidance on the GCU Procurement Journey, template documents and links to Procurement contracts. Procurement is also linking into the People Passport process to promote the procurement assistance available.
2.1.3 Contract and Supplier Management
Procurement have introduced a Contract and Supplier Management process to control all the supplier agreements that we have in place across the University. This process categorises the management route for suppliers according to their risk and value to the University. Procurement will then assist the key stakeholders to implement this Contract and Supplier Management process, to ensure that the University gets best value from its suppliers in their operations within the University. This process has already commenced with Estates contracts, but will be introduced with the retender of all other high risk contracts going forward.
2.2 Savings and benefits
Collaborative procurement benefits statements have been received for this period and whilst these figures are still unconfirmed they demonstrate collaborative savings of £404k cash and £72k non cash. The biggest cash savings are being made against the agreements for Office Supplies, Copiers, the purchase of Apple products and the supply of Water and Wastewater Services. The non-cash savings are an accumulated £6K cost avoidance per agreement, claimed in the first year of a new collaborative agreement, for institutions not having to do a full tender exercise individually. This calculation has been approved as the standard methodology for all Scottish Public Sector bodies.
3 Procurement Activity over the Period
During the period August 2013 to July 2014, 9 contracts were advertised at a total value of £21M, with an additional 12 mini competition exercises being undertaken against existing collaborative agreements to the value of £789K. During the reporting period we were involved in contracts for GSBS, Estates and People Services in addition to the Heart of Campus Main Contractor.
A list of these tenders is included as Appendix A.
Glasgow Caledonian University - Finance Office – Procurement
Page 6 of 6
August 2013 – July 2014 Procurement Report
Appendix A - Contracts Awarded between August 2013 and July 2014Contracts / Value
Provision of Modern Foreign Language (MFL) Teaching / £2,055,596
Provision of Graduation Photography Services / £292,255
Heart of Campus – Main Contractor / £18,000,000
Provision of Blacksmiths / £30,000
Provision of Locksmiths / £157,000
Provision of Fume Cupboard Maintenance / £21,000
Occupational Health & EAP for Staff and Students / £326,000
ABC Disability Management Platform / £35,000
CNC Machine Tools / £230,000
Total / £21,146,851
Mini-competition/Quick Quotes / Value
Mini-competition for Vehicle Leasing – Transit Van and Minibus / £32,478
Mini-competition for the Supply and Delivery of Desktops / £272,928
Mini-competition for the Supply, Delivery and Installation of Furniture for a Digital Design Hub / £39,692
Invitation to Quote for the Carbon Footprint of a Recycled Building Material / £13,500
Mini-competition for the Supply of Backup Disk Storage / £32,315
Mini-competition for the Supply of Server Hardware / £170,774
Mini-competition for the Provision of an Ultrasound System / £57,591
Mini-competition for Cash in Transit Services / £21,816
Mini-competition for a Franking Machine / £4,002
Mini-competition for External Audit Services / £39,000
Mini-competition for Internal Audit Services General / £77,000
Mini-competition for Internal Audit Services ICT / £28,000
Total / £789,096
Overall Total / £21,935,947
Glasgow Caledonian University - Finance Office – Procurement
Page 6 of 6
August 2013 – July 2014 Procurement Report
Appendix B – Procurement Capability Assessment – November 2014 – Progress Report
Glasgow Caledonian University - Finance Office – Procurement
Page 6 of 6