Growing MATs and recent budget cuts are making it difficult for central teams to decide where funds need prioritising. Not to mention where cash can come from in the first place.
Effective school contract and supplier management is one of the forgotten ways to free up some pennies. When you understand the contracts in place across your MAT’s schools, you’re in prime position to get best value for money – and create economies of scale. Read on for our two-part series featuring insight from Stephen Blackbeard-Rapley, one of our Senior Consultants, on the basics of supplier management.
What is effective contract and supplier management?
MATs have tens, if not hundreds, of contracts in play across their schools. Different sites have different needs. Different locations have different suppliers. And all this ‘different’ means there’s numerous contract terms and conditions to record, manage, and review – which is no mean feat.
But, putting time into organising and storing the details of all contracts pays dividends to your MAT’s budget. Imagine discovering that one of your schools has a legacy contract that’s been auto-renewing for a decade, but the school hasn’t used the service since 2017!
Understanding contracts in place
Effective supplier management begins with knowing which contracts are active now, which are coming up for renewal, and knowing where services can be consolidated. Ask yourself the following questions to kickstart better contract management:
- Are you engaged with this service?
- Is the supplier delivering what they said they would?
- Does the service/product meet the terms of the contract?
- Are you getting best value for money?
- Does the supplier/contractor fulfil all items on the agreement?
Further focussing on the last point, Stephen explains why contracts are particularly prevalent for school estates teams.
“How often do you take the time to review the performance of your current supplier or contractor? Take gutter cleaning, for example. Does your contractor fulfil every part of your agreement with them? Are they painting the fascias and soffits as per the contract terms and conditions? It might not feel as though there’s time to ask whether the contractor has been into your school to fulfil the service. But, you need to make time to do so!
“The difficulty MATs often face is having school contract details sat in a desk drawer or someone’s head. The information isn’t easily accessible if you’re based in a different site to that desk (or person), and we’re all prone to forget things. That’s why we encourage you to store contract information in a central, cloud-based system. You can access and review a contract’s details from anywhere, at any time, rather than having to drive to a different site to hunt for it.”
School supplier management: Where to start
You can get a snapshot understanding of how beneficial (or not) current contracts and suppliers are to your school/MAT by:
- Knowing the contract value
- Reviewing the terms (in detail)
- Noting the advantages and disadvantages of what you’re receiving
Next, you can delve into the details, like itemising the activities your supplier has fulfilled against all those the contract entitles you to. This starts to paint the picture of how much value you’re getting from the supplier, or if there’s gaps that need filling.
How to know if contracts add or drain value
One of the simplest ways to understand if a contractor is meeting your school’s needs (and the contract terms) is through staff feedback. Do you keep records of comments colleagues make about suppliers or services? Be it a corridor conversation or a point raised during an SLT meeting, these comments are key to understanding the value of contracts to the staff and students they’re in place for.
It's best practice is to store both internal and external comments and photographic evidence on a product or service.
Not only does it stand you in good stead for health and safety audits and school inspections, but it acts as evidence if you’re dissatisfied with a supplier or would like to renegotiate your contract.
If you raise an issue with your service provider, comments alone can be argued against. But photographic evidence strengthens your case. When all conversations, photos, and records for a contract/supplier are in one central area, you’ve got accessible evidence to support conversations or complaints.
Recording evidence
One of the biggest advantages of using a cloud-based tool, like our school compliance software, Every Compliance By IRIS, lies in recording this type of evidence. “It doesn’t matter whether you’ve inputted the information into Every Compliance or someone else in your MAT has. If it’s stored centrally, you can quickly understand the state of play with that contract. You can become a very credible customer to that supplier, with what you say influencing the service they deliver.”
So, what types of information should you include in contract management?
- Service level agreements
- Terms and conditions
- Key contacts
- Correspondence
- Delivery notes
- Risk assessments
- And more!
For a full list of what you should record against each contract/supplier agreement, click here.
And to continue learning about effective supplier management, click the button below for insight from the second half of this webinar.
