Brexit Procurement - A sector approach

Whilst we continue to await an idea of what the future holds regarding the legislation around trading with the EU it is recognised that we cannot delay until Government advises on the deal (or no deal) before acting.

At risk of repeating the content of a dozen articles I (and I am sure you) have read recently, key to being able to manage or mitigate procurement related risks, in whichever form they take, is having a full understanding of the contracts you have in place or are planning to advertise throughout the University currently and in the foreseeable future. 

You should develop a clear picture of your supply chain for those contracts, and seek to understand which present a higher or lower risk by asking appropriate questions around key topics; Consider currency, staffing, supplies shortages, increased risk of modern slavery, waste impacts, products subject to higher levels of border control, border delay impacts, and how agile your suppliers are in a fluctuating market?

I spoke to the purchasing consortia about the process they are following to review the framework contracts in place. They confirmed that the UK Universities Purchasing Consortium group (UKUPC), (which represents all HE purchasing consortia) through its Joint Contracting Group, would be taking the following approach:

• Assessing all framework agreements for Brexit Impacts and categorising them into low / medium / high risk & impact through the use of a collaboratively developed questionnaire and template.
  
  
• For each medium / high risk agreement, listing the risks against each and the action being taken to further assess and mitigate that risk. This will include liaison with other collaborative partners.

Frank Rowell, Head of the NEUPC confirmed that the excellent Whitehall guidance issued, which provides a range of questions and includes a section on what businesses trading with the EU need to know, would be referred to by consortia when assessing suppliers within framework contracts.

It is recognised that due to the variety of products and services being purchased across the sector, in institutions and through frameworks, a one size fits all approach to the full process is quite impossible.  Category and procurement managers will need to understand the risks around each category and each contract and ask questions appropriate to those risks.

This is an important time for procurement professionals; understanding the potential risks will give you advance warning of where bottleneck situations may occur, or costs may spiral and allow you to use your skills to prevent or mitigate harm to your university.

Your regional consortia will communicate with you directly more about their approach to managing framework risk and the results of their work but if you have any questions in the meantime please do contact them.

To add, HEPA as part of BUFDG have just launched a new web page which provides a range of advice and useful links from a variety of sources detailing information on the basics of Brexit as well as the firm anticipated and actual implications for members.  The link is here and will be duplicated on the HEPA, BUFDG, UHR, AUDE and HESPA websites.