About LUPC
Established in 1968, LUPC is a not-for-profit professional buying organisation owned by its Members, for its Members. LUPC’s core membership is made up of universities and colleges of higher education in and around the capital, along with some colleges of further education. Latterly, these have been joined by some not-for-profit, public and third-sector organisations from our neighbouring sectors in the arts, sciences and education. We are one of the four higher education purchasing consortia in England that together constitute English National Purchasing (ENP).
LUPC is a company limited by guarantee and is funded mainly from membership subscriptions. Some suppliers help support the consortium by supplementing our membership income through an entirely transparent process. LUPC employs seven staff at its Bloomsbury office location, working in conjunction with procurement professionals and other experts from our Membership. LUPC’s Director is Andy Davies MBA FCIPS.
LUPC is also a member of English National Procurement (ENP), the national body working to improve collaboration across the regional purchasing consortia and other sector purchasing organisations.
The main benefits of LUPC membership are:
Guaranteed savings | |
Typical savings that can be achieved by switching to LUPC agreements can range to over 30% on some agreements and we can help you by providing leakage reports based on your spend information. There is also a reduction in tendering costs for both buyers and suppliers. | |
Guaranteed compliance | |
Through a combination of EU Directives and UK case law, public procurement is becoming increasingly complex and vulnerable to litigation. All LUPC contracts and framework agreements are tendered by experts and are compliant with all relevant rules and regulations, thus minimising the risk of legal challenge | |
Access to a diverse portfolio of professionally arranged contracts | |
LUPC currently have over more than 65 agreements in place, and are constantly adding to this portfolio. The latest LUPC-exclusive agreements being tendered are legal services and business travel. All our agreements are compliant with EU legislation. | |
Free access to Creditsafe | |
Access is available to credit referencing via a fast, consolidated, electronic means of accessing this information in order to reduce business risk while saving considerable expense. | |
Free access to EU procurement advice | |
If you have a particular EU problem with the status of a procurement strategy or project under the legislation you can also get prompt free advice from Achilles through the LUPC agreement. | |
Free membership of The Energy Consortium (TEC) | |
Membership of The Energy Consortium (TEC) is included in your LUPC membership fee so you can put all your energy procurement through them. | |
A monthly e-bulletin and quarterly magazine | |
Find out the latest on procurement projects, on procurement issues and the goings-on within LUPC. | |
Annual Members' savings reports | |
All our Members will be issued with an annual savings report, with spend information being made readily available on an agreement-by-agreement basis via the new LUPC website. | |
Excellent opportunities for collaboration | |
LUPC provide networking opportunities with colleagues from different institutions and share best practice. | |
Last year, our Members spent £139m through our supply agreements, saving £26.7m in the process. On average, our Members receive £63 in savings for every £1 in subscription fees.