ANHEPBP Status & Important Dates

Australian National Higher Education Procurement Benchmarking Procurement

Dear Colleagues,

The ANHEPBP is composed of 12 sub-projects for commodities and services and 3 Procurement Function benchmarking sub-projects, funded by DEST as part of the Workplace Productivity Programme (round 1).

The first 3 sub-projects are now completed and the results have already begun to show their value. The 7th National University Finance & Procurement Conference 2007 has been and gone, Phase 1 of the Procurement Function benchmarking is underway as is the Travel benchmarking category and the next commodities are being scoped - so now is a good time for another update on the status of the ANHEP Benchmarking Programme - and a reminder of some important dates.

PHASE 1

In the last update, I reported that Office Supplies and Temporary Staff benchmarking had been completed in June. These were followed by the Laboratory Supplies results which were completed in July and the reports distributed to those involved on the 13th.

Purchasing Index have reviewed the individual reports from the first 3 sub-projects with the universities concerned with only 4 yet to be visited. This is an important step in the progress of the Programme and has been organized to ensure everyone has a full understanding of what these reports represent to each university.

Sub-Project 4 Travel The AUPC Advisory Group and the ANHEPBP Advisory Committee approved the parameters for the Travel benchmarking and the sub-project officially started on the 27th July. There are 20 universities participating. The due date for the return of data to PI is the 28th September, giving 9 full weeks.

Procurement Function Phase 1 This one is well underway at this point, with 13 participating universities. The data gathering phase started on Monday, 2nd July will extend until early October 2007. This will be supported by visits from Purchasing Index to each site which are now being scheduled.

PHASE 2

The Advisory Groups have been determined but there are still opportunities for IT people who feel they can contribute with the scoping for Telecommunications.

Sub-Project 5 Multi-Function Devices The start of this one has been delayed as the Advisory Group work through the parameters of the survey tool. We are hoping to go out to the universities who have expressed an interest in participating on the 17th August with the hope of expediting the responses and bringing the timing back into schedule.

Sub-Project 6 Transactional Banking Scheduled to start Sep 2007. The Advisory Group has two university representatives from within the Finance areas and work is already underway in compiling the initial data template for review by the full Advisory Group.

Sub-Project 7 Telecommunications Scheduled to start Oct/Nov 2007
Please contact Jan Rose if you are able to assist with setting the benchmarking parameters for this category or if you can recommend an IT person from within the sector. An additional member to the Advisory Group would be most beneficial.

Sub-Project 8 PCs and Laptops Scheduled to start Dec/Jan 2008

PHASE 3

The sub-projects to be considered for Phase 3 will be revisited by a further survey in January 2008 to ensure those identified in the previous 2 surveys are still relevant.

Some Important Dates

17 Aug 07 Calls for participation in MFD benchmarking
29 Aug 07 Orders for MFD participating - deadline
3 Sep 07 Anticipated start date for MFD benchmarking
14 Sep 07 Deadline for Suppliers to provide Travel data to universities
24 Sep 07 Calls for participation in Transaction Banking benchmarking
28 Sep 07 Deadline for Travel data to PI

Thank you, everyone, for all your hard work and effort.

Best wishes, Jan