Australian National Higher Education Procurement Benchmarking Programme (ANHEPBP)

Funded by the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.

About the Project

In 2005 Higher Ed Services and the Australian Universities Procurement Network Initiative commenced a pilot benchmarking project with the assistance of commercial company, Purchasing Index Pty Ltd. Five universities participated in the pilot, benchmarking their university spend on stationery.

A grant proposal was submitted to DEEWR under the Higher Education Workplace Productivity Programme to continue the programme for a further three years and increase the number of university participants. The proposal was made to DEEWR by The University of Newcastle on behalf of the Programme Management Partner, HES and the AUPN Initiative.

The Proposal was successful allowing the Project to start in February, 2007; the Programme was completed on the 30 September 2009 when the Final Report was delivered to DEEWR under the Conditions of Grant.

The Programme outcomes will be ongoing. The responses to a Higher Ed Services survey of participants conducted in August 2009, clearly demonstrated that there has been an improvement in the knowledge of procurement practices in Higher Education institutions and an improvement in the knowledge of each market addressed in the project.

Early savings opportunties were identified by most participating universities, resulting in improved knowledge about current contracts and pricing and a greater awareness of issues when negotiating contracts.

DEEWR Review of the Workplace Productivity Programme 2008 provides a review of the Workplace Productivity Program (WPP) insofar as results could be assessed in June-July 2008. It includes a summary of the views expressed by HE providers in relation to improvements gained in their organisations as a result of the WPP. On 1 July 2008, the Department sought the views of university Vice-Chancellors as well as Project Directors.