Procurement under the education white paper- Guidance for MAT leaders

The education white paper is here, so what does it mean for those undergoing procurement in education? 

In this blog, we’ll break down the education sector procurement process, highlighting best practice tips at every step.  

What does the future of procurement look like for schools and trusts?

The direction of the Department of Education’s white paper- Every child achieving and thriving continues to move education towards a fully trust-led system, encouraging stand alone schools to join strong multi-academy trusts.

Where procurement is concerned, these changes shift the context in which it sits. The professionalisation of school leadership will likely grow as more standalone schools join trusts.

At the same time, the Procurement Act 2023 introduces a new regulatory framework for public sector procurement. These changes mean schools and trusts will need to think more carefully about how they plan, structure and manage contracts.

We’ve highlighted the key areas schools and trusts should focus on, and the practical steps leaders can take to prepare.

Read on for:

1. Understanding and planning around thresholds
2. Planning for growth before it happens
3. Strengthening your commercial capacity
4. Making use of procurement frameworks
5. Creating and maintaining clear contract register
6. Shifting the focus from tendering to contract management
7. Governance and audit readiness

1. Understanding and planning around thresholds 

For academy trusts, the main services threshold is £213,477 excluding VAT (always check the current threshold at the point of procurement, as these are periodically updated).

The key rules are:

• Thresholds are calculated excluding VAT.
• You must include the total maximum contract value, including extensions.
• A 3+2 contract is treated as a 5-year contract for valuation purposes.
• You must aggregate spend across all schools covered by the contract.

If you are looking to grow, you must estimate contract value based on what is reasonably foreseeable, including likely incoming schools.

Here are some tips for practical preparation: 

• Create a simple internal contract valuation template that calculates: 
• Annual value (net of VAT) 
• Full term including extensions 
• Estimated growth uplift 
• Document assumptions about future schools joining
  
  

 Make sure that your finance and operations teams understand that VAT must be excluded when assessing thresholds.

2. Planning for growth before it happens  

We see growth often create additional procurement risk, mainly because contracts were let for smaller organisations

If new schools join and the contract value increases significantly, or the original tender doesn’t allow for additional schools, you may need to consider whether modifications are allowed, or whether new procurement is needed.

Forward planning avoids emergency extensions and compliance gaps, so here’s how you can prepare:

• When tendering, explicitly state in documents that the contract may cover future schools within the trust.
• Begin to build scalability clauses into your specifications.
• Align procurement cycles with your anticipated onboarding timelines.
• Conduct due diligence on incoming schools’ existing contracts before transfer.

3. Strengthening your commercial capacity  

As trusts grow, procurement no longer sits solely with individual school business managers.

Instead, trusts should begin to consider the following:  

• Creating a central commercial or procurement manager role.
• Expanding CFO/COO teams to include commercial oversight responsibility.
• Separating your operational ordering from strategic procurement.

Providing additional procurement training to your finance and operations staff.

The practical reality is that contract complexity grows faster than many trusts anticipate. Even having a part-time central procurement manager can significantly reduce the risks in larger MATs.  

4.   Making use of procurement frameworks 

Procurement frameworks provide compliant routes to the market while reducing the administrative burdens of creating them yourself. But be wary, they must be used correctly to remain compliant.

If you’re exploring the option of using a pre-existing framework, our step-by-step guide to procurement covers our trusted options as a starting point.

However, as a rule of thumb, you should:

• Understand which frameworks are available (e.g. CCS, YPO, ESPO, Crescent Purchasing Consortium, DfE-approved routes).
• Check whether frameworks allow for direct awards or require a mini-competition.
• Ensure the scope of the framework covers the services being procured.
• Confirm that all schools within the trust are eligible to use the framework.

It’s important to note that frameworks aren’t a shortcut around compliance, but they provide a compliant route if used properly.

Here are some practical steps to prepare:

• Build a simple internal guide outlining which frameworks the trust commonly uses.
• Keep an internal register of framework expiry dates.
• Train key staff on when a framework is appropriate versus a standalone tender.

5.  Creating and maintaining clear contract register 

Many trusts underestimate how important a strong contract register becomes once they grow.

Here’s what a robust central contract register should track:

• Your supplier name
• The service type
• The annual value (net of VAT)
• Your total contract value (including extensions)
• The contract start and end dates
• Any break clauses
• Extension deadlines
• Your Service Level Agreement (SLA) and KPI arrangements
• Your renewal notice periods
• Any subscription-based contracts (software, MIS, safeguarding tools)
• The contract manager responsible

When trusts don’t have this visibility to hand, it’s easy to fall into common pitfalls.

Here are some of the main contract challenges we see:  

• Missing renewal deadlines
• Auto-renewing contracts unintentionally
• Losing leverage at re-tender stage
• Duplicating subscriptions across schools
  

What can you do to prepare? Here are our tips to help you out:

• Consolidate all school-level contract lists into one central register.
• Review it termly at finance or audit committee.
• Assign a named contract manager for high-value contracts.
• Include subscription tracking - small SaaS contracts often accumulate unnoticed.

6.  Shifting the focus from tendering to contract management  

Particularly under the points that the white paper introduces, trust mergers are bound to become more common as more stand-alone state schools seek to join a trust.

Awarding a compliant contract is only the start. Having a clear management process in place for your contracts helps to protect your budgets and demonstrates better governance.

Our tips for growing trusts? Introduce the following:

• Formal supplier review meetings for major contracts.
• Documented KPI monitoring.
• Annual value-for-money reviews.
• Performance escalation procedures.

7.  Governance and audit readiness  

As trusts take on additional schools, the scrutiny each contract is subject to will increase.

It’s a good idea to start preparing your boards to answer common questions like:

• How do we calculate contract values?
• How do we manage conflicts of interest?
• How do we ensure competitive procurement?
• How do we monitor supplier performance?
• How do we prepare for trust growth?

Procurement should ideally come up on your finance or audit agendas regularly, not just when a problem arises.

Conclusion

As schools grow into larger groups and trusts take on more responsibility centrally, procurement stops being a routine administrative task and becomes part of your organisational strategy, governance and risk management.

We'll be watching the impact of the white paper on procurement to see how it continues to change the process, and will frequently update our guidance and advice to give you the most up to date advice. 

Looking for further guidance in navigating the procurement process? Whether it’s your first time, or you have schools undergoing the process that will soon be joining you - our Step-by-step guide to navigating procurement in education breaks down the process to help you avoid overwhelm.

Need further guidance in navigating your procurement journey? Our team are no strangers to the process and are never more than a quick call away to talk through your options.

Get in touch with the team to find out how we can support you.