19 November 2021 
Ashley Shelbrooke, HEPA and Project Specialist
Welcome to the latest HEPA Digest, which really is packed full of information, resources and L&D opportunities for you, your team and your colleagues.
We have an excellent line-up of sessions, webinars and events between now and the end of the year, covering everything from contract management to the PVS & benefits methodology and from purchasing cards to the dangers of bid rigging with the CMA. Sign up links are as follows…
As always, these sessions are free for you and your teams to attend. Please do share these links with anybody in your organisation who you feel may benefit.
For colleagues in England & Wales only: In particular, the PVS will be opening next month for 2020/21 submissions. If you have new colleagues who will be involved in your submission then please do share the webinar on 30th November with them, and also let me know so I can ensure they have access to the system.
The HEPA Social Value & Community Benefits sub-group have been working hard with colleagues across the sector and from the Social Value Portal on the development of the HE Themes, Outcomes and Measures, or “TOM’s”.
You can read all about the TOM’s on the HEPA website here, and download a copy of the HE TOM’s here.
A big thank you to colleagues from The University of Manchester, The University of Sheffield, Queen Mary University, Sheffield Hallam University and UKUPC (and others!) for their input into the project.
From 1 January 2022 the new thresholds will be inclusive of VAT (rather than net of VAT) and will be as follows:
Public Contracts | |||
Supply, Services & Design Contracts | Works Contracts | Light Touch/Social & other specific services | |
Central Government | £138,760 | £5,336,937 | £663,540 |
Other Contracting Authorities | £213,477 | £5,336,937 | £663,540 |
Small Lots | £70,778 | £884,720 | N/A |
Utilities Contracts | ||
Supply, Services & Design Contracts | Works Contracts | |
Utility Authorities | £426,955 | £5,336,937 |
Small Lots | £70,778 | £884,720 |
Concession Contracts | |
Authorities | £5,336,937 |
Clyde & Co. have produced a good summary of the change, including an analysis of the practical impact. You can read their piece here.
For Head’s of Procurement only: Following on from my email a few weeks ago, do keep an eye out in the coming days for further details on our new Head of Procurement Groups which kick-off in December. In the meantime, please do book yourself on to your relevant group via the links below:
A reminder that you can find out your institution’s income on the HESA website here by searching for your ‘HE provider’ and referencing the ‘Total income’ field. The Terms of Reference for the groups are available here.
Are you looking to go to the market for audit services? If so then do read NWUPC’s great auditing guidance document and re-watch our time to talk with Simon Newitt, CFO at Northumbria, and CCS here.
HEPA is working with the Cabinet Office to help them shape the L&D programme for the upcoming transforming public procurement programme.
The Cabinet Office released an update on their work, which you can read here, and colleagues in Wales can read an update from the Welsh Government here.
Last, but by no means least – a save the date!
If you have not already done so, then please do hold Monday 14th to Wednesday 16th March 2022 in your diary. Over these three we will be running another online conference, which we are calling the BUFDG Finance Festival. The conference will contain plenty of procurement, counter-fraud and finance related content and will be free of charge for you and your teams to attend.
