• APUC's new Chief Executive, Angus Warren commences an operational review
• Membership update
• Changes in leadership
• Contracting Priorities and Ways of Working Together Workshop
• Procurement Capability Assessments
• External Print - new agreement
• Natural Gas - new prices from 1 August 2009
• Capital Procurement Projects update

Membership update

In addition to working in partnership with Scotland’s 62 universities and colleges, APUC is building close relationships with the institutions’ representative bodies, Universities Scotland and Scotland’s Colleges, as well as with other key stakeholders, such as the Scottish Funding Council and the Scottish Government. Recently, Universities Scotland appointed Alastair Sim as its new Director and the Scottish Procurement Directorate appointed Alastair Merrill as Director. 

Alastair Sim, Director of Universities Scotland

Alastair Sim took up office as Director of Universities Scotland on 1 July 2009.

Alastair is a graduate of the universities of Oxford, Delaware and Glasgow. During a fast-stream civil service career as a policy-maker and law-maker he acted as private secretary to successive UK Government Ministers, enjoyed secondments to the European Commission and the University of Glasgow, and developed new Scottish legislation on protection of the natural environment and on constitutional reform.

Outside of work, Alastair has had two thrillers published: Rosslyn Blood (2004) and The Unbelievers (2009).

Alastair Merrill, Director of the Scottish Procurement Directorate

Further leadership changes have taken place at the Scottish Procurement Directorate. Stella Manzie, Director-General for Finance and Corporate Services at the Scottish Government announced: “As from Monday 20 July, Nick Bowd, who has done such a terrific job in leading work on public sector procurement since 1999, is moving into an adviser role so that we do not lose his vision and experience, while Alastair Merrill a senior civil servant colleague who has worked in a variety of roles, will become Director of Procurement.”

In 2001, Alastair was recruited as a Senior Civil Servant by the then Scottish Executive. Latterly, Alastair was Deputy Director for Police from 2005-2008. In 2008 he moved on promotion to the Scottish Prison Service as Director of Corporate Services, responsible for corporate strategy and governance, legal policy and information management.

Alastair is married to Janet and they have three young boys. Apart from his busy family life, Alastair’s other interests include music, sailing, motorcycling and youth work with the Boys Brigade.

Contracting Priorities and Ways of Working Together Workshop

On 2 and 3 September, APUC will host the above workshop with the Procurement Advisory Group (PAG) and other institutional representatives who wish to take part. The sessions will be held in Edinburgh over one and a half days.

• Gain understanding of all the potential contracting categories purchased by institutions.
• Identify which of those categories are suitable for collaboration.
• Prioritise those categories.
• Define a collaborative approach to bring optimal benefits (cash and otherwise).

In addition to agreeing contracting priorities and plans, APUC and institutions will discuss ways of working together, including best practice development and sector representation within a single partnership structure that can accommodate the diverse needs of the various client institutions.

Details of the outputs will be shared with all institutions soon after the event for the benefit of those that cannot attend.

The PCA is an in-depth questionnaire which will be completed by institutions and APUC in a face to face setting. The aim of the PCA is to understand an institution's position with regard to structure, capability, processes and performance. Understanding individual institution’s procurement functions will allow APUC to construct appropriate training and support initiatives and to facilitate cross-institution collaboration and sharing of best practice with a view to improving capabilities across the board. The information provided in questionnaires will be treated as confidential by APUC and the results aggregated with those from other institutions before submission to the Scottish Government.

The first phase of PCA visits will be conducted between September to December 2009 with 31 institutions, representing 90% of the sectors’ spend. The remaining 31 institutions will be assessed during January – April 2010.

Four pilot PCAs were conducted with the Universities of St Andrews, Edinburgh Napier and Glasgow, and South Lanarkshire College in June and July 2009. These pilots were useful in highlighting optimal ways in which the assessors can conduct the PCAs and ensure consistency, and gave institutions an opportunity to comment on the content and relevance of the questions and the usefulness of the process.

See more information here on the PCA, including rationale, the Scottish Government’s view, methodology, reporting, the PCA questionnaire itself and what evidence you require to support your answers.

If you have any queries, contact Douglas Bell, Louise Burke, Neil Harrower or Andrew Foulner, who will be conducting the PCAs over the coming months.

APUC’s new External Print Agreement was made available to institutions from 27 July 2009. The agreement was awarded for a period of two years, with an option to extend for two periods of one year. 

The framework strategy was designed by experienced University Print Managers, building on the previous collaborative agreement, but on a much larger scale, encompassing 62 universities and colleges.

• prestigious / flagship print work such as prospectuses, annual reports, quality magazines and brochures; and
• tactical work for everyday low value items, for example, badge cards, brochures, booklets, business cards, compliment slips, forms, leaflets, letterheads, A3/A4 posters and specialist products such as envelopes.

For information, the framework outcomes appear in line (although, for the avoidance of doubt, this was not a criterion in the selection process) with the Scottish Government's Economic Recovery Programme, established to assist Scottish businesses by ensuring SMEs have open and unhindered opportunities to bid for public sector contracts in Scotland. In this agreement nine (69%) of the suppliers are classified as SMEs and of these five (55%) are indigenous Scottish companies.

For further information, please contact Anne Martin, Procurement Portfolio Specialist.

Currently 42 universities and colleges are enjoying the benefits of buying natural gas through APUC's collaborative framework. From 1 August 2009, the rates are set to change for most sites, with significant cost reductions being achieved.

The overall reduction in cost, compared to the prices paid in year one (August 2008 to July 2009), is over £4 million. Individual university and college rates are available on CuPID and SharePoint. These prices are commercially sensitive and should be treated as confidential in nature.

For further information about the natural gas framework, including cost reductions, please contact Brett Bryce, Procurement Assistant.

• Elmwood College;
• Kilmarnock College;
• Perth College;
• Glasgow College of Nautical Studies; and
• Aberdeen College.

Good progress is being made with framework agreements for audio visual, window coverings, furniture, and floor coverings. It is expected that the framework agreement for audio visual will be in place by the end of August 2009. The others are on target for the end of 2009.

• Banff and Buchan College;
• Dundee College;
• James Watt College; and
• The Robert Gordon University.

See more information here on the team’s activities to date and what support is available to you.