25 March 2024 
Ashley Shelbrooke, HEPA and Project Specialist
Welcome to the latest digest of HEPA news!
First up, we are delighted to announce the next set of HEPA Head of Procurement group meeting dates. Heads of Procurement can book on to the relevant meeting through the following links:
Please also add placeholders to your diary for the remaining 2024 meeting dates which are pencilled in as below; Ashley will share booking links for these future meetings in due course:
A reminder that you can find turnover for your HEP on the HESA website by searching ‘HE provider’ and referencing the ‘Total income’ field.
PPN 01/24 has been published which sets out a carbon reduction schedule and associated guidance; you can download the PPN here. This is a set of standard carbon reduction contract clauses that can be included in contracts, where relevant and proportionate.
HEPA has been informed by the Cabinet Office that an updated Selection Questionnaire (SQ) will be released imminently – most probably on Wednesday 27 March 2024. The SQ will be released on gov.uk here, and HEPA will be updated as soon as the new version is published. The new SQ will reflect amendments and changes due to feedback and also bring the document into line with the latest policies that the Cabinet Office have published.
UPDATE: the new SQ was published on 27 March 2024 – members can download a copy of the SQ here, as well as a marked copy here.
HEPA has also been informed that the PPN covering Artificial Intelligence is being published today. At the time of writing this PPN is not live just yet, but it should be available by close of play 25 March 2024 here.
UPDATE: the Artificial Intelligence PPN was published on 26 March 2024 – members can download the PPN here.
Many thanks to all members who joined Sam Russel’s excellent Transforming Public Procurement & Procurement Act session at the 2024 Finance Festival – a reminder that you can catch-up on the session here, as well as all the other presentations from the conference.
The e-learning element of the Transforming Public Procurement learning & development package will be hosted on the Government Commercial College (GCC). Now is therefore a good time to start registering on the GCC platform before the anticipated launch of the e-learning in late April. To help with the registration process you may wish to refer to the GCC User Guide, a copy of which is available here. Please do encourage all colleagues who will need to complete the e-learning to register on the GCC at their earliest convenience.
Many thanks to all HEPA members who have already signed up to be Super Users as part of the Transforming Public Procurement programme. If you would like to get involved as a Super User then it is not (quite!) too late. A description of the role is available here, and if you would like to sign up then please do let Ashley know asap!
Last, but by no means least, as we approach October 2024 CCS have shared their latest list of commercial agreements anticipated to be awarded under the new regime - you can find out more here.
UPDATE: the Cabinet Office released a comprehensive Transforming Public Procurement bulletin on 26 March 2024, which members can read here.
