Guidance for Schools on Producing and Maintaining a Contracts Register and Procurement Plan.

Schools Contract Procedure Rules State:  

2.0  School Procurement Plan  

2.1  For each financial year, the School must publish a Procurement Plan setting out its current contracts and contracts to be procured over £10,000 in value for the forthcoming financial year, including details as to how any devolved capital is to be allocated. 

2.3  The Headteacher shall keep a contracts register setting down details of the contracts awarded in the preceding twelve months including the basis on which those contracts were awarded, together with details of those contracts of £10,000 and above to be awarded during the forthcoming financial year. 

2.4 The school will identify the relevant headteachers, managers, officers (School) and teachers responsible for carrying out the school’s procurement by the type of services and supplies to be procured and by value. These authorised officers and their respective details shall be included as part of the Procurement Plan. 

What is the Contracts Register?

The Contracts Register is a retrospective look at past spend. The register should detail contracts that the school has in place, what they are for and with whom.  Ideally this should be grouped by areas of goods / works / services. The register should also detail all the service level agreements and other significant expenditure and the method in which they were procured.

Suggested column heading for the Contracts Register include; 

Contract (area)
Company Contract
Number (if applicable)
Details (if required)
Start Date
End Date
Termination Period
Duration
Annual Fee (for current year)
Value of Contract (over the duration)
Method of Procurement
Responsible Officer. 

As well as longer term contracts that the school has entered into the Contracts Register should display significant ‘one off’ expenditure, such as a works programme and how it was compliantly procured. 

The Contracts Register should also detail any significant expenditure where the correct method for procurement has not been undertaken. These gaps should be addressed in the following years procurement plan. 

An example of a Contracts Register can be viewed as appendix A

A template of a Contracts Register can be viewed as appendix B

What is a Procurement Plan?

The Procurement Plan is an extension to the contracts register. The Procurement Plan should have clear details of all existing contractual arrangements, that expire in the forthcoming year and how they are going to be replaced in compliance with Contract Procedure Rules. The Procurement Plan should also detail any known significant expenditure in the forthcoming year and the compliant way it will be procured.

Suggested column headings for the Procurement Plan include;

Contract (area)
Company
Contract Number (if applicable)
Details (if required)
Start Date
End Date
Termination Period
Period
Annual Fee (for current year)
Value of Contract
Old Procurement Method
New Procurement Method
Responsible Officer
Procurement Planning Start Date 

The Procurement Plan should also address the gaps in the previous years Contracts Register where a service is ongoing and a procurement solution needs to be put in place and have space to include any significant purchases that occur at short notice throughout the course of the year that need to be procured compliantly. 

The plan should also set out who has the responsibility for the procurement at the school and a date when the procurement method, whatever it is, needs to commence. This should give adequate time for the school to plan the procurement and seek the relevant advice / assistance.   

An example of a Procurement Plan is available as appendix C.

A template for a Procurement Plan is available as appendix D.

At the end of the Procurement Plan year then all completed procurements from the plan should be transfer back to the contracts register alongside the longer term contracts that were not due to expire in the past year. The will then form the contracts register for the next year and the plan can then be produced from this ‘new’ Contracts Register.

If you have any questions regarding this guidance or need assistance in completing your contracts register and procurement plan please contact the Commissioning, Procurement and Business Development team at Education Leeds on 0113 2475268

To view a printable version of this guidance please click here