Procuring a Single Uniform Supplier for a School and Sports College: Achieving Cost Savings and Social Value

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A School and Sports College, like many educational institutions, faced the challenge of procuring a single uniform supplier that could meet the needs of the school and its parents while also aligning with the school’s values of reducing their environmental impact and supporting the local economy.  The school recognised the need for a single point of contact for both the school uniform and PE Kits to work directly with the parents, while also ensuring that the choice provided was in line with Education (Guidance about Costs of School Uniforms) Act 2021.

Challenge

The School and Sports College were looking for support to procure a single uniform supplier.  The school recognised the need for a single point of contact for both the school uniform and PE Kits to work directly with the parents of the school, whilst also being able to appoint a provider that held strong values to demonstrate social value and reducing their environmental impact.

The school’s vision was to engage with SMEs to bid to support the local economy and have a single supplier for uniform, PE kit and accessories, providing a one stop shop for parents & carers whilst ensuring that the choice provided was in line with Education (Guidance about Costs of School Uniforms) Act 2021.

The school was looking to appoint the single provider for the vital provision of school uniform as part of Whickham Schools rebranding process.

Solution

Value Match worked with the Trust to identify the priorities as part of the procurement strategy, which were assessed against the available solutions on the market:

  1. Identified the YPO School Uniforms DPS – 1021 as the most appropriate contracting vehicle for the Trust to provide a quick route to market to ensure we could meet customer deadlines.
  2. Engaged with the school, and all the relevant stakeholders across the departments, to understand what key criteria should be included within the specification ensuring it the uniform and PE kit requirements.
  3. Compiled the appropriate documentation.
  4. Managed the tender and clarification process whilst maintaining appropriate records.
  5. Provided evaluation training to the panel of school staff and governors.
  6. Managing the technical and commercial evaluation process.
  7. Providing project management and weekly briefings to the school to ensure they were continually updated on the process through to effective delivery.
  8. Managing the contract award stage with evaluation reports provided to the school along with supplier notifications and debriefs provided.

Outcome

As a result of this procurement, we were able to ensure that the Trust were able to contract with a single uniform provider that offered value for money for each garment whilst being able to provide key added benefits to the contract with a provider who has a focus on working within an ethic supply chain and provided added value to the school.

  1. Complete a compliant, cost-effective procurement process resulting in the most economically advantageous tender being awarded.
  2. Through the competitive tender process, the school were able to achieve a 6% savings for a basket of uniform items, a saving directly to the parents of the school for each uniform purchase.
  3. The appointment of a service provider with a social value agenda outside of the core services
  4. A school focused and inclusive approach that meant the provider could support the school with Discount Vouchers, instalment payment plans and an allocation of free uniforms per year to be utilised to best serve the school.
  5. The awarded provider had ethical sourcing and sustainability in their supply chain at the heart of its organisation values.
  6. All their partner manufacturers are Sedex approved or equivalent with a selection of their product range has successfully moved to Eco friendly products and all the recycled content is certified to Global Recycling Standards (GRD)
  7. Innovative designs of uniform garments meant the majority of their blazers produced in 2022 will be made from recycled bottles whilst also reusing packaging which is received internally to meet suitability goals. They are able to provide parents with uniform boxes which are recyclable and biodegradeable where ever possible.
For further information, contact Lindsay Rosul

T: 07702 823 648
E: Lindsay.Rosul@value-match.co.uk