Strategic Procurement is all about ideation, creation, delivery and continuous improvement of procurement-related policies, frameworks and tools. The team recently launched a new Strategic Procurement Framework, ProcureRight – smarter procurement with (you)^us, which they’ll be explaining at the upcoming Strategic Procurement Town Hall.

We asked the team to tell us a little more about themselves.

 Who are you?
Group Strategic Procurement

What do you do?
Procurement is a complex function that supports the business in selecting and appointing a supplier, from identification of a need to signatures on a contract. We are a small team of advisors that is available to you as much or as little as you need on your procurement journey.

Procurement is not to be confused with purchasing, another important Group function, which is concerned with the process of ordering, receiving and paying for goods and services.

Why do you do it?
In support of its teaching and research objectives, Macquarie spends significant amounts of money. Good procurement ensures the University gets better value for this spending, and ensures money is spent sensibly, fairly and transparently – our role in Strategic Procurement is to ensure there’s a robust procurement process in place.

Given the complexity of the operating environment under which we conduct our business, we try to make procurement as simple as possible for you and we try to make it fun.

Who do you most frequently work with?
While procurement is not the University’s core business, it is core to almost everything that the University does. It is an enabler. To meaningfully develop the procurement function and framework in a way that will be sure to stick (rather than need to be enforced), we conducted consultation and change management before we started the development of the new procurement framework, ProcureRight.

While we don’t directly engage with undergraduate students, we do with just about everyone else at Macquarie. In the course of preparing for the changes that we’re now undertaking, we directly interviewed 209 University stakeholders – teachers, researchers, professional staff, postgraduate students and the Executive. We also work closely with our suppliers and partners to ensure that they understand our operating environment as well as our values and principles.

Since the launch of ProcureRight in September, we have held consultations and information sessions for in excess of 400 staff. It’s fantastic to see how well received it’s been so far, and we’ve collected some great feedback which we’ll use to make it even better.

What’s a recent achievement you’re proud of?
We recently launched the University-wide ProcureRight framework. It’s based on three fundamental principles: trust, empowerment and accountability.

The ProcureRight framework makes it simple and easy for users to align with the University’s operating environment and the probity and governance principles under which we conduct our business. In return, our team assumes full accountability for the governance and tools provided in the ProcureRight framework.

What’s planned for the future? Anything exciting on the horizon?
We’re looking forward to the Procurement Town Hall we’re holding on Tuesday, 3 December (more information to follow in This Week soon) and our ongoing engagement with as many individuals and groups across the University as possible.

We’ll soon be launching the TravelRight framework, including the new University-wide travel policy and all-new travel systems and processes. The Travel Management Services Request for Tender is well underway, and we’ll be announcing the new and improved travel program very soon. Watch this space!

How do you engage with us? Where can we learn more?
You can find the ProcureRight Framework here on the Strategic Procurement webpage.

If you have an interest in Strategic Procurement, contact the Director, Strategic Procurement at Natalie.Budovsky@mq.edu.au. For general enquiries, email procurement@mq.edu.au.

Macquarie University is one of 17 Australian universities working together to change the way our sector sources and buys goods and services.

As a member of the University Procurement Hub (UPH), Macquarie is soon to experience the benefits of economies of scale, efficiencies in sourcing products, and ultimately better buying decisions.

For staff, it means improvements in the way we source and buy goods, with the first category, Office Supplies, going live this week. Nearly 20 different categories of goods, ranging from furniture to recruitment services, are planned to be progressively phased in over the next 18 months.

University-wide, we spent approximately $800,000 last year on office supplies – 40,903 reams of paper, 20,706 pens, and nearly 5,000 packets of post-it notes all contributing to that amount.

The project is being managed by Finance’s Operations team which is rolling out training and consultation supported by a new Procurement Policy and updated Procurement Handbook. It is an important first step in a strategic and more sustainable approach to procurement that reinforces the University’s strategy, A Framing of Futures.

Finance’s Director – Operations, Andrew Hallman, says the initiative will aid in streamlining the procurement process by establishing University-wide preferred suppliers, eliminating the current requirement for competitive quotes, and introducing new catalogues that will make it easier to search for products.

“One of the big upsides will be the savings which ultimately help ensure the University prioritises its resources for its key purpose of research and teaching.

“This initiative also encourages all of us to think before we buy University goods and services. Presuming people are responsible with their own money, we are encouraging the application of that same responsibility to purchasing decisions at work.

“Behavioural change is an important element of our procurement strategy and as an example, if people were aware that printing colour copies costs 10 times more than black and white ones they would think before they print to contribute to greater savings for the business.”

For more information, see here or contact Purchasing Manager Belinda Anderson on x1679.