| Date |
|---|
| 19th March 2020 |
During these challenging times, we are all called upon to find innovative ways to keep our institutions and communities operating to the extent that they can. We know that many of you will currently be involved in contingency planning at your universities.
We want to hear about any initiatives that you/your team have been involved in to keep things going at your Universities – for both students and staff. As this situation is likely to go on for some time, we are developing ways to maintain our network and continue to share best practice during this period of uncertainty. We will post any examples of good practice, support from our suppliers or calls for support on this page and send out through our networks, as we receive them.
If we can support you and your teams during this difficult time, please get in touch.
You can find information below, with more to come!
Your Team at SUPC
General Support
Support for the NHS
We know everyone across the sector is supporting sector efforts as they can. We would like to say a special thank you to SUPC Category Manager Dani Sweeney who is supporting a national task-force to coordinate sourcing PPE for the NHS from over 3000 suppliers. Dani is managing a team of other volunteers to ensure supplies meet NHS-required specifications. Dani’s work is one piece of wider, coordinated sector activity being undertaking by university procurement departments across the UK.
You can read more about how UK University Purchasing Consortia (UKUPC) are supporting the NHS here. While Dani is focusing full-time on supporting the NHS supply chain, colleagues in the SUPC Category Management Team are providing necessary cover.
We’ve created a FAQ document which you can view here
SUPC has worked with the other university purchasing consortia across the UK to collate responses from framework suppliers about the impact of COVID-19 on the delivery of goods and services. The spreadsheet includes information provided by each supplier along with a traffic light, colour coded risk level numbered 1-3. 1 being a low, and 3 being a high risk of supplies being affected. This spreadsheet was last updated on the 12th May. SUPC will continue to monitor the situation and alert you via Twitter and the news section of our website with any updates.
There are several resources available to members, extending beyond procurement, available on the Higher Education Procurement Association Website
Members are making great use of our jiscmail groups. We have different groups to cover a range of different interests: insurance, libraries, computing, etc. If you aren’t yet on a group and want to be added to one, email us at supc@reading.ac.uk. You can find a list of groups we currently run here
Academic Services Support
Members can find a list of digital resources that have been made available for free or with extended access here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-eP8jUfqolty8LZ1LcpvSCweyqsVAHLgfolyXo927xQ/edit
This has been compiled by the University of York. Please add to it if you can.
Travel Support
Universities are having to shut facilities, halls of residence are closing and some students, both domestic and foreign are unable to return home. Travel Management Suppliers, Clarity are offering Universities help during these unprecedented times. Whether universities need to book 1 room or 100 they are here to help. Clarity will do all the venue finding, negotiate with vendors, drive to get the best prices possible and we will not charge any fees.
Contact details for any institute that needs support:
Email: salessupport@claritybt.com
Call: 0800 731 1627
Useful Resources
You can find further information, guidance and resources for COVID-19 through the following sites: