Group photo at the higher education procurement summit

Higher Education Procurement Summit 2019

By Anne Hession

Posted: 27 May, 2019

On 9 May 2019, the HEA and the Education Procurement Service (EPS) hosted the third annual Higher Education Procurement Summit in the Clock Tower, Department of Education and Skills.

The summit brought together over 70 key personnel from higher education institutions together with the HEA, EPS, Office of Government Procurement (OGP) and Department of Education and Skills to address issues, demonstrate examples of good practice and provide updates on procurement developments for the sector. The theme of this year’s summit was “Planning for Success: Compliance and Adding Value”. The summit highlighted the importance of implementing and developing the Corporate Procurement Plan within each institution and collating the necessary expenditure data for the Multi-Annual Procurement Plan (MAPP) in a timely manner in advance of the deadline (November 1^st, 2019).

Minister for Education and Skills, Joe McHugh T.D. provided the keynote address, emphasising the importance of procurement in the public sector in ensuring transparency and value for money for the taxpayer.

Speakers on the day included:

Mary Rose Cremin, Director, Audit & Assurance, Deloitte – Compliance & Adding Value
Denise O’Malley, Corporate Services Manager, EPS – Corporate Procurement Panning & MAPP Data Analytics
David Mangan, Portfolio Manager and Neil McCarthy, Lab Category Manager, EPS – Category Management Strategy
Paul Quinn, Chief Procurement Officer – Planning Ahead for Public Procurement
Eleanor Stokes, Key Account Manager, OGP – Corporate Procurement Planning & Compliance
Bridget Keenan, Category Manager, EPS – Contract Management System (CMS) for Education,
Jim Dean, Head of Policy, OGP – Incorporating Social Considerations into Public Procurement
Declan McCormack, eInvoicing Programme Manager, OGP – einvoicing – The Framework