Date Category
31st May 2024 Member Update

(4-minute read)

Excellence in framework delivery

SUPC is the largest of the UK Universities Purchasing Consortia by spend. We lead on frameworks in some of the most strategic and high-spend areas for the sector, and have provided access to 135 frameworks across UKUPC and other consortia.

Over the past year, a significant number of SUPC members covered the cost of their annual SUPC membership through returned framework levy.

Our key SUPC-managed frameworks include:

  • Travel management (£89.2M*)
  • Software Licence Resellers Agreement (£41.8M*)
  • Books, e-Books and e-textbooks (£31M*)
  • Servers, Storage and Solutions National Agreement (£32.6M*)
  • Serials, Periodicals and Associated Services Joint Consortia Agreement (£17.4M*)

*Total SUPC spend by framework for 2022/23

This means SUPC members have access to quick and compliant routes to market saving time and effort, delivering significant savings, and ensuring risk is appropriately managed through favourable terms and conditions. We strongly influence supplier behaviour and support a broad knowledge network of colleagues and best practice that extends across institutions and across the UK.

Giving back to our members (£1.4M in Framework Levy returns)

We are unique in that we return the majority of framework levies negotiated with framework suppliers back to our members; the more you spend on some UKUPC frameworks, the more you receive back. This includes through using our negotiated agreement with framework provider Pagabo, an estates and facilities management framework provider.

Infographic to show the value SUPC delivered for members in 2022/23. Highlights include £509.8m spend through agreements, £37.1m savings (cashable and non-cashable), 1:37 ROI, £1.4m returned framework levy and 135 agreements accessed by members.
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SUPC’s 2022/23 frameworks at a glance:

We’re pleased to report on another successful year for SUPC and our members:

  • Total spend committed against SUPC led frameworks increased by some 33% to over £676.8m
  • The level of Framework Levy returned to SUPC members has grown to record levels with over £1.4m being returned for 2022/23, an increase of 4% compared to the prior year
  • The average Framework Levy return to our members currently stands at £22,956, which represents an average 177% return on our annual full membership costs.
  • The new overall average ROI for SUPC members is now at 1:37 for 2022/23 which is a great reflection on how beneficial subscription is for members.

Why become a member of SUPC? Let our members tell you!

We help over 100 UK universities, colleges and educational charities to deliver value to their students, staff and wider communities through effective procurement.

These are the benefits that SUPC members say they value most from their membership:

  • SUPC acts to safeguard competitive prices and value for money through frameworks 
  • Saving you valuable time because we have already vetted suppliers through the tender process
  • Offering access to over 130 professionally managed contracts covering the products and services you need to buy
  • Giving you choice with access to a large supplier base of both large industry leaders and specialist SMEs, with guaranteed compliance
Banner that reads 'helping universities buy smarter'. Click to find out more.

About SUMS Group

As part of the SUMS group, SUPC is part of a community of excellence, driven by our members and aimed at taking a proactive and innovative approach to conquering the HE sector’s challenges. Across the SUMS Group, over 180 members access our services, take advantage of our knowledge networks, and attend our events and training opportunities.

Working across SUMS, SUPC has developed its consultancy offering with a rejuvenated PMA+ launch and provision of interim expert consultants to support members with special projects or managing capacity. SUPC now offers a Procurement Value Assessment (savings opportunity deep dive).

We are also pleased to report that SUPC has recruited further Affiliate and Single Framework Access members since last year, and these additions further strengthen our collective voice when working on your behalf. At the end of 2022/23, SUPC’s membership represented 40.3% and 40.9% of the student and staff FTE population across the UK, respectively.

Infographic to show SUPC's membership (153 members) and the market share (40.3% of UK student population (FTE) and 40.9% of UK staff population (FTE).

Find out more

If you’d like to know more about becoming an SUPC member, or how to make the most of your existing membership, get in touch with us today!

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