Procurement
Procuring of the supplies and services required for a learning space project will be controlled to some extent, depending on the costs involved, by the official procurement guidelines and policies as set down by UK and European legislation.
Our Applied infoKit on Electronic Document and Records Management Systems (EDRMS) includes a section on the procurement stage. The diagram below is also taken from this Kit but the procurement process is equally applicable to a Learning Space project context.
PQQs are pre-qualification questionnaires which are a tool used to help assess the qualification and experience of suppliers.
Sustainability is now a major concern and consequently a sustainable procurement approach is important. The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) website states that, 'The public sector has a key role in furthering sustainable development through its procurement of buildings, goods and services. The Strategy established a business-led Sustainable Procurement Task Force to bring about a step-change in public sector procurement practice, such that by 2009, the UK is recognised as amongst the leaders in sustainable procurement across EU member states'.48
Fair and Ethical Trading is another issue that has come to the fore in recent years and the OGC also has guidance on this. Many organisations within the education sector are now including sustainability and Fair and Ethical Trading in their published Procurement Policies.
