Recent years have tested the resilience of facilities and estates teams across the UK’s education sector like never before. From post-pandemic supply chain delays to labour shortages and inflationary pressure on materials, procurement in schools, colleges, and universities has had to become faster, smarter, and more strategic.
Where once annual maintenance schedules or one-off capital projects could be planned with confidence, procurement teams are now operating in an environment defined by price volatility and uncertainty. Materials like timber, steel, insulation, and even basic cleaning supplies have seen significant cost increases. Anecdotally, lead times for key equipment, such as boilers, lighting systems, or roofing materials, have doubled or tripled in some cases.
This disruption has forced estates teams to rethink procurement practices, shifting from reactive buying to more proactive, risk-based strategies.
- Forward Planning and Stock Holding
More schools and universities are now building contingencies into procurement plans: ordering earlier, increasing stock where possible, and working with suppliers to understand lead time risks. For example, some have begun pre-purchasing critical spares for HVAC and lighting systems to reduce downtime risk. - Supplier Diversification
Over-reliance on a single supplier or framework can expose institutions to failure. Many estates teams have diversified their supplier base or re-tendered contracts to introduce more flexible purchasing arrangements. Multi-supplier frameworks and dynamic purchasing systems (DPS) have become valuable tools in managing supply risk and pricing pressure. - Collaboration and Aggregation
Education institutions, particularly in the FE and HE sectors, are increasingly collaborating with neighbouring organisations to aggregate demand, secure better pricing, and reduce procurement overheads. Regional purchasing consortia or joint tenders for FM services or utilities are helping to offset inflationary costs. - Embedding Flexibility into Contracts
Fixed-price contracts are no longer always realistic. Estates teams are now working with procurement colleagues to include clauses for price reviews, material substitutions, and timeline extensions, ensuring that delivery partners can respond to market conditions without breaching contract terms. - Emphasising Value, Not Just Cost
Finally, many education providers are re-evaluating how they define best value. A contractor who can guarantee delivery, provide continuity of service, or offer long-term maintenance savings may be a better investment than the lowest upfront bidder.
In a turbulent procurement environment, resilience and adaptability are now as important as compliance and cost-efficiency. By learning from recent disruption, estates and facilities managers can build more robust procurement strategies, ensuring their buildings remain safe, functional, and future-ready.
The Education Forum is here to help with all your procurement needs, across both Facilities and IT. Find out more here.
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