Purchasing

Southern Universities Purchasing Consortium

The University is a member of the Southern Universities Purchasing Consortium (SUPC).

Based at Reading University, the Southern Universities Purchasing Consortium (SUPC) is the largest of the six regional higher education purchasing consortia that operate throughout the UK, all working to maximise the purchasing power of the higher education sector. The SUPC itself has a membership of over one hundred higher and further education institutions including Coventry University and, by combining the expenditure of more than one hundred member institutions, can offer its members a wide range of collaborative purchase agreements covering most commodity areas.

SUPC awards and manages framework agreements on behalf of its member universities using competitive tendering exercises, almost always under the regime established by the EU Procurement Directives. Such tenders will be published on both the SUPC’s e-tendering website (SUPC e-tendering website) and that of the Official Journal of the EU (OJEU tenders).  Some of these agreements are tendered exclusively for SUPC members but some are developed for use by the whole sector. Similarly, other regional consortia lead on different commodities or services, thus sharing tendering workload. This may mean that some agreements will have been awarded by one consortium but will be available for other consortia to use.

The SUPC website lists the agreements they currently have in place and when they are due to expire. Re-tendering normally starts 9 to 12 months prior to the start of an agreement so if you are interested in tendering for a particular agreement it is wise to look out for the OJEU notice during this period.