Schools urged to get 'smarter' with procurement

[broc]

Seen on the BBC

 

Schools Secretary Ed Balls says head teachers should install smart meters and negotiate better deals on cleaning, computers and desks

 

BBC News - Schools urged to save power in £750m efficiency drive

 

Shame about BSF then

[plexer]

Grr it's a bit like the new British Gas advert:

 

They should also bring an end to estimated bills, because the technology can send back an accurate meter reading to energy companies every day.

 

I do that without a smart meter it's called giving the energy company my actual readings wether they have read the meter or not, bills are not produced on a daily basis so daily meter readings don't accomplish much.

 

Ben

[AyatollahPies]

Seen on the BBC

 

Schools Secretary Ed Balls says head teachers should install smart meters and negotiate better deals on cleaning, computers and desks

 

BBC News - Schools urged to save power in £750m efficiency drive

 

Shame about BSF then

 

I completely misread that and thought you'd said Ed Balls says head teachers should negotiate better deals on cleaning computers.

[broc]

I completely misread that and thought you'd said Ed Balls says head teachers should negotiate better deals on cleaning computers.

 

Cleaning computers will be outside the BSF managed services agreement, so there will be an additional charge. The cost will depend upon the age of the equipment, and some older legacy equipment will not be supported

[jumpinjamez]

Its just funny that he asumes schools dont care about price and just pay over the odds for all its stuff.

 

I hope this wont lead to the cheapest solution being the right one . Cheap now pay later.

[alan-d]

@ Simon CPL

 

negotiate better deals on cleaning, computers and desks

 

Look Simon - I'm being told to do it even more !!!!!

[bossman]

@all:

 

Maybe we as a nation should turn round to him and say "MPs should find a way to save costs by cutting out their expenses and employ cheaper MPs"

 

I wonder what the answer to that would be

[alan-d]

@all:

 

Maybe we as a nation should turn round to him and say "MPs should find a way to save costs by cutting out their expenses and employ cheaper MPs"

 

I wonder what the answer to that would be

 

" Can I claim for that?"

 

[K.C.Leblanc]

I wonder what the answer to that would be

 

Sorry I didn't quite catch that, are you here to clean my moat?

[Guest Guest]

If schools are wasting £750m which we can cut back on just like that, why exactly has he waited until now to say it? Surerly there should be some HTs/SLTs getting the sack if that were the case

[mortstar]

That's an end to the gold-plated Alienware PCs that we just started buying then

[tsky]

That's an end to the gold-plated Alienware PCs that we just started buying then

 

No, you're missing the point - we have to SACK teachers and SLT so that we CAN buy gold plated Alienware PC's for the Support staff....

 

[Dos_Box]

Its just funny that he asumes schools dont care about price and just pay over the odds for all its stuff.

 

I hope this wont lead to the cheapest solution being the right one . Cheap now pay later.

 

You may find this hard to belive, but some do just that in the name of 'efficiancy'. Some buy from the same supplier again and again even if the cost is above what they should be paying because 'it's easier' than shopping around.

[K.C.Leblanc]

Some buy from the same supplier again and again even if the cost is above what they should be paying because 'it's easier' than shopping around.

 

The school I used to work for actualy went back to the original manufacturer not just for Mice and Keyboards but also Mouse Mats.

[Dos_Box]

The school I used to work for actualy went back to the original manufacturer not just for Mice and Keyboards but also Mouse Mats.

 

*bangs head against desk repeatedly*

[Michael]

To be honest I don't think that much energy could be saved from computers. Most newer machines (5 years or so) are generally very efficient and also go into low power mode, as do larger printers/photocopiers.

 

I think the biggest waste has to be with lighting and printing. I always schedule machines to shutdown every evening which is very simple to do!

[broc]

You may find this hard to belive, but some do just that in the name of 'efficiancy'. Some buy from the same supplier again and again even if the cost is above what they should be paying because 'it's easier' than shopping around.

 

That is how corporate procurement works too... negotiate a price once a year & move on to the next item to negotiate a price on. Then whenever anyone needs anything they buy at the corporate price

 

It is also how some 'managed' clients are expected to buy things too, especially when they no longer have the resources/skills to negotiate, or their service provider can contractually dictate what & where they can buy.....

Edited November 26, 2009 by broc

[witch]

The thing is, in the schools I have got, the office staff really don't have the time to ring around suppliers to negotiate the cheapest prices, and currently they have no incentive to do so...

Also they are inconsistent: I have seen ridiculous prices paid for toner (admin network, not mine!) and yet a teacher was refused a wrist rest as it would 'cost too much'. (A kind edugeek sent me one, which was lovely)

The key, is, as always education - they need to know WHY we have to save money, HOW is the best way to go about it, and WHEN they can do it

[CyberNerd]

lol@ everyone wasting govt money by posting useless sh*te on forums.

\wonders why outsourcing looks attractive

[grumpy_git]

Our NM spends ages sorting out the cheapest quote and doing things as best can be done within the budget. Yet on the other hand if it's the head's pet project, money is literally thrown at it... I expect cuts won't affect the latter, though.

[srochford]

How much time you spend on finding the cheapest price has to depend on what you're buying.

 

If it's a new hard disc costing about £50 you may as well just go to the supplier it's easiest to buy from. You're unlikely to save more than a fiver by shopping around but the cost of the person's time will easily be more than that £5.

 

If it's a whole classroom full of computers then it's worth spending more time on it (but there are still limits!)

 

If you're buying something like A4 paper where you might use tens of thousands a year then it's worth saving even a few pence on each one and so you could spend quite a bit of time on it.

 

There have actually been several threads on here recently about how money is wasted in schools - I'm thinking of printing costs. Any school which doesn't have a charging mechanism in place is effectively throwing away money. I know it's not directly related to procurement but there needs to be a good overall view of all the money which is spent by a school and where savings can be made. Saving money by not buying paper and toner which just go in the bin at the end of the day (or even before!) has to be a good thing to do and will have little or no detrimental effect on education (and could even have positive benefits if it makes people think more about waste in general!)

[jumpinjamez]

How much time you spend on finding the cheapest price has to depend on what you're buying.

 

If it's a new hard disc costing about £50 you may as well just go to the supplier it's easiest to buy from. You're unlikely to save more than a fiver by shopping around but the cost of the person's time will easily be more than that £5.

 

If it's a whole classroom full of computers then it's worth spending more time on it (but there are still limits!)

 

If you're buying something like A4 paper where you might use tens of thousands a year then it's worth saving even a few pence on each one and so you could spend quite a bit of time on it.

 

There have actually been several threads on here recently about how money is wasted in schools - I'm thinking of printing costs. Any school which doesn't have a charging mechanism in place is effectively throwing away money. I know it's not directly related to procurement but there needs to be a good overall view of all the money which is spent by a school and where savings can be made. Saving money by not buying paper and toner which just go in the bin at the end of the day (or even before!) has to be a good thing to do and will have little or no detrimental effect on education (and could even have positive benefits if it makes people think more about waste in general!)

 

we have a charging system in place we just dont charge the students,Couldnt get the SMT to agree to that, students need printed work for school and by making them pay we are denying them educational rights. I would like to know how others get on with this.

 

Printing and copying are massive wastes of resources when i was NM i tried very hard not to dish out printers because now when you start taking them away to cut cost people will get upset .

[torledo]

i tend to think the figures for such 'efficiency' potential is always exaggerated.

 

i'm wondering whether such belt tightening is to be enforced across the broad spectrum of areas which receive educational funding. A little less report commissioning and less hiring of educational consultant gobbledegook would be nice but unlikely....Guess schools spending as the big item on his speadsheet is an easy one to pick on and talk about in the media.

 

It also strikes me as rather reckless to suggest schools tear through these surpluses they are sitting on before they've had a chance to hear their free financial advise.

 

I just see so many reports of pots of funding allocated here, there and everywhere......that i'm wondering whether there's any point in being passionate about the cost of paper....a school or several schools may be doing their bit to be more efficient but you know money's getting blown on some naval gazing elsewhere. The budgets and targets for school spending just seem totally arbitrary, like most govt. spend. And balls wants the schools to save a bit more so he can lower the arbitrary figure spent on schools or take back what remains unspent and spunk it in some other direction, and convince the meejia that he's not the total waste of skin we all know he is.

 

but possibly not lower the arbitrary figures on spending elsewhere, that stuff can always slip below the news media radar donchaknow....and nobody can keep up with the specifics of what's being spent where anyway. Priorty seems to be not spending more than they have to in putting people on the payroll. bizarre policy with 2.5million unemployed . Then again some of those on the payroll i wouldn't put in charge of a biscuit tin let alone a six or seven figure budget.....

[CyberNerd]

if they are determined to centralise to save money, just stop giving hundreds of millions per year to capita/serco. put some funding into an opensource alternative to sims

[oxide54]

Seen on the BBC

 

Schools Secretary Ed Balls says head teachers should install smart meters and negotiate better deals on cleaning, computers and desks

 

 

oh what to save money to pay the growing PFI contracts they forced us into !