The Procurement Department at the University of Kent has commenced on a programme that is intended to result in a better service, lower costs, and stronger control of our information.
The Simplifying Kent : Procurement programme is now underway and we have launched our new staff website at : https://www.kent.ac.uk/finance-staff/procurement/index.html . The site will be regularly updated.
We have also recruited three new staff into the team. Please give a warm welcome to our new recruits :
- Emily Gedye : Emily joined us on 3rd April as Procurement and VFM Data Analyst. Emily has come from Debenhams where she has been working on procurement, data analysis, and planning.
- Lizzie Wheable : Lizzie starts on 27th April as Category Manager, and is joining us from BT where she is specialising in their IT requirements. Lizzie has also spent some time at Kent County Council, so has been in Public Sector Procurement previously.
- Ashley Shelbrooke : Ashley starts us on 8th May as Procurement Specialist. Ashley is joining us from Crown Commercial Service, where he has worked on a number of Procurement projects and transformation programmes.
For many years, the Purchasing Office at the University of Kent has been providing a largely administrative service. Operating at such a tactical level does not deliver best value to the University. We have a business need to deliver challenging operational savings over the next 4 years, and with a large Capital Programme to support, and therefore a fundamental change in the way in which 3rd party spend is managed is essential in order to make a significant contribution towards this target. If you have any queries, get in contact with Mark Reed, Head Of Procurement, at M.Reed@kent.ac.uk