HEPA Digest: November 2020

Prepare for Brexit: Customs Training

In 88 days (at the time of writing!) the UK will have left the EU and importing and exporting goods is going to change dramatically...

• Do you buy scientific or medical equipment from outside the UK?
• Do you bring in or send out art works for display in temporary exhibitions?
• Do you send kit out of the country to be used on field trips and so on?
• Do you have students who transport valuable instruments when representing the university?

If your institution answers yes to any or all of these questions then it is important that you ensure your team has the necessary customs skills required.

We are running three more Customs Training sessions next week which will cover Customs, Import VAT and Duty.  Feedback from the first session we ran was very positive…

• “An excellent well-presented course”
• “[the course] helped me gain a better understanding of what we need to plan for after the UK leaves the EU”
• “knowledge gained from the course will enable me to make decisions about Customs processes”

Demand for training in this area is high and we are unlikely to be able to secure any more dates until well into 2021.  You can book onto next weeks courses through the links below:

• Tuesday 10 November (last few places remaining)
• Wednesday 11 November (last few places remaining)
• Thursday 12 November

Contract Management survey

Lifecycle are running a survey to better understand contact management in the sector.  You can access the survey here.  The output of the survey will be a report, similar to the one that Lifecycle produced for the NHS in conjunction with HCSA, a copy of which you can read here.  The survey will take about 10 minutes to complete, and you can even win an iPad or Android tablet!

Period product procurement

Hey Girls and Freshsight are undertaking a research project looking to better understand period product procurement in UK universities.  This includes those universities that already have a free period product scheme in place and those that do not.  Please could you take the time to complete this short survey here to assist with the research.

Round-up

• Many thanks to David Hansom, Partner, Clyde & Co., for his ‘time to talk’ covering Brexit and Procurement.  You can download the slides and re-watch the session here.
• UKUPC have produced a great set of tender and call off questions in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.  You can check them out here.
• The Social Value & Community Benefits Responsible Procurement Sub-Group are working on a paper and would value input and case studies covering your work with Social Enterprises.  Find out more here.

Watch out for the second part of this month’s HEPA Digest which will contain - amongst many other exciting topics - this year’s Procurement Value Survey (PVS)!