SMART PROCUREMENT STRATEGIES
suppliers fairly, avoid unnecessary bureaucracy, and ensure inclusive access to opportunities.
Transparency and accountability: building trust
The Procurement Act 2023 places a strong emphasis on transparency, and we are fully on board. This is not just about ticking boxes - it is about building trust with governance, staff, and communities.
Collaboration and innovation: thinking beyond our walls
We do not operate in isolation. Our strategy encourages future collaboration with other MATs, local authorities, and the DfE. By sharing resources and knowledge, we hope to reduce duplication and increase buying power.
automatically compliant, which is a huge win for efficiency. This is reflected in the recent significant upgrade to our IT facilities for students and staff, where we removed the need to trawl the market for suppliers, and focused on a precise specification – which meant the DfE-approved framework provider went out and found the right products at competitive pricing for our use.
• Whole-life costing. We do not just look at the sticker price - we consider the total cost of ownership. Maintenance, durability, and sustainability all factor into our decisions. This approach often reveals that the cheapest option is not the best value. Another consideration when it comes to purchasing products such as IT are learning resources.
• Avoiding aggregation pitfalls. We are careful not to split contracts artificially to avoid thresholds. Instead, we forecast spend accurately and aggregate where appropriate, ensuring compliance and better deals.
Putting ethics and sustainability at the heart of procurement
Our procurement strategy is deeply intertwined with our ethical commitments and sustainability goals. These are not just nice- to-haves; they are non-negotiables. We have recently engaged with a large online retailer to apply purchasing policies to make it easier for schools to ensure that they are purchasing from suppliers in line with our Co-operative values.
• Modern slavery compliance. We require suppliers with turnover above £36 million to provide a modern slavery policy. For smaller suppliers, we expect evidence of ethical practices aligned with our own standards. This ensures we are not inadvertently supporting exploitative supply chains.
• Environmental impact. Every tender includes sustainability criteria. We challenge
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suppliers to reduce their environmental footprint and contribute to our broader goals, as outlined in our Ethics and Sustainability Statement. This is seen on our current catering tender, where it is not just about price and quality of the food on the plate, it is very much about where the ingredients come from and how they get to our schools. We have taken advantage of the ‘DfE Energy cost recovery services for schools’ programme to review our energy usage over the past six years, to ensure that we are not over purchasing energy capacity and to consider cost savings on future use.
• Supporting local SMEs. We actively remove barriers for local businesses, especially those within a 25-mile radius of our Trust offices in Thurrock. We engage with local suppliers, including service reviews that help to ensure high quality service for our schools and suggestions for enhancements for suppliers. This has led to negotiated agreements with suppliers to seek better discounts and other benefits for our schools.
• Promoting equality and diversity. Our procurement processes reflect our Equality and Diversity Policy. We aim to treat all
Practical support for schools
Procurement can be complex, especially with new legislation. That is why we integrate support from the DfE’s Get Help Buying for Schools team into our strategy. Their expertise helps us to navigate the process confidently and compliantly. Our current catering tender has demonstrated the benefits of this. Reassurance that we are working with a specialist team from the DfE, at no charge to the Trust. The service has helped with signposting approved frameworks, addressing TUPE and legal issues, providing project management timelines, and ensuring sustainability and inclusivity. It certainly saves time, and we hope that it will provide us with the right outcome for our schools’ catering provision.
Procurement as a strategic lever For us, procurement is not just a back-office function - it is a strategic tool to help us deliver better educational outcomes, build financial resilience, and live our Co-operative values every day.
As the Procurement Act 2023 reshapes the landscape, at Osborne Co-operative Academy Trust we are ready. We have built a strategy that saves money, supports our communities, and protects our planet. And we believe other MATs can do the same.
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