APUC Ltd (Advanced Procurement for Universities & Colleges) is one of the six Centres of Procurement Expertise formed as a result of the McClelland Review of Public Procurement in Scotland, published in March 2006.  The not for profit company was created in January 2007, and is owned by Scotland’s 60 universities and colleges. It operates entirely in the interests of these institutional stakeholders.

By working jointly as one team with client institutions APUC supports the embedding and consistent application of good procurement practice within Scotland's universities and colleges, incorporating EU Directives in the tendering process.

APUC ‘s aim is to maximise the contribution that advanced procurement makes to Scotland's investment in teaching, research and knowledge transfer so that institutions can deliver more with the funds that they have available.

Not only does APUC conduct tenders on behalf of their members, it also looks to maximise savings by collaborating with the other consortia and sectors by promoting relevant agreements to their members.  In this way, APUC facilitates the TPL agreements to the Scottish Higher and Further Education Sector.
For further information about APUC, their collaborative and e-procurement solutions, please visit the APUC  website: http://www.apuc-scot.ac.uk

Campden BRI issues regular Food Alerts for the benefit of its membersthrough the provision of independent scientific and technical expertise, training and advisory services, and by providing leadership in innovation.

We serve members across the food chain in the agriculture, food, drink, ingredients, catering and associated industries.

• Best industrially relevant knowledge
• Product, package and process innovation
• Processing efficiency
• Improved product quality.

Product safety Camden BRI’s Mission is to enable Members and other clients world-wide to attain Campden BRI provide a unique resource for the food and drink industry offering the widest range of R&D, technical services, analysis and training activities.

Established in 1990, Catering Price Index (CPI ) is an independent company that benchmarks catering prices, helping businesses and organisations in the public and private sectors to ensure they never purchase catering supplies over the general market prices. CPI benchmark over 24,000 products each month and are generally recognised as offering the most accurate and reliable information there is.

CPI provide TPL with the information they need to:

• negotiate with suppliers.
• maintain purchasing efficiency
• purchase effectively save money

Our service provides an essential audit for regulated organisations to prove financial probity and responsible management of public funds. Our data can be used in this way because it is impartial and reliable.

The Crescent Purchasing Consortium (CPC) is the only purchasing consortium operated exclusively for institutions working in the Further Education (FE) and Academies sectors.

The CPC operates under a Board containing four College Finance Directors, the Chair of the FE Directors of Finance Group, Peter Brewer (Managing Director of the CPC), a representative from the procurement team at the Association of Colleges, a Purchasing Advisory Group elected member of procurement staff from an institution and an Institution's Principal.

Members of CPC have access to hundreds of professionally arranged contracts covering a wide range of goods and services with new and improved contracts being added constantly to the portfolio. The CPC are committed to providing its members with a first class procurement service, which provides excellent value for money from contracted supplies and services.

The CPC encourage its members to use TPL’s Catering framework agreements so they can optimise value for money through collaborative procurement.

The EAUC is the sustainability champion for UK universities and colleges and was established by and is run for its members. We’re the one stop shop for stimulating and bringing about sustainability in the sector.

With a membership of well over 280 Further and Higher Education institutions, we’re leading the way in integrating sustainability and environmental management of universities and colleges in the UK.  We are self-financing and use our funds for the benefit of the membership.

A key role is the information and best practice sharing amongst the wealth of experience and skill within our membership. In addition we identify and deliver sustainability staff development and work with sector funders, governors, suppliers and professional bodies to drive sustainability deeper into all aspects of our universities and colleges.

Being a member gives your institution access to this valuable network and the ability to influence the direction the organisation takes and the kinds of areas, issues and projects we become involved with, both now and in the future.

The Fairtrade Foundation is the independent non-profit organisation that licenses use of the FAIRTRADE Mark on products in the UK in accordance with internationally agreed Fairtrade standards.  A registered charity, the Foundation is the UK member of Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International (FLO) which unites 21 labelling initiatives across Europe, Japan, North America, Mexico and Australia/New Zealand as well as networks of producer organisations from Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Foundation's vision is of a world in which justice and sustainable development are at the heart of trade structures and practices so that everyone, through their work, can maintain a decent and dignified livelihood and develop their full potential. To achieve this, Fairtrade seeks to transform trading structures and practices in favour of the poor and disadvantaged. By facilitating trading partnerships based on equity and transparency, Fairtrade contributes to sustainable development for marginalised producers, workers and their communities.

The Foundation’s mission is to work with businesses, community groups and individuals to improve the trading position of producer organisations in the South and to deliver sustainable livelihoods for farmers, workers and their communities by:

• being recognised as the UK’s leading authority on Fairtrade
• bringing together producers and consumers in a citizens’ movement for change
• using certification and product labelling, through the FAIRTRADE Mark, as a tool for our development goals
• being a passionate and ambitious development organisation committed to tackling poverty and injustice through trade

The Foundation's four key areas of activity are:

• Raising public awareness of the need for Fairtrade and the importance of the FAIRTRADE Mark
• Working with our partners to support producer organisations and their networks
• Facilitating the market to grow demand for Fairtrade and enable producers to sell to traders and retailers
• Providing an independent certification of the trade chain, licensing use of the FAIRTRADE Mark as a consumer guarantee on products

For more information, please visit our website http://www.fairtrade.org.uk

The KitMan System is a complete Kitchen Management System, designed by Chefs, to help catering professionals to cost, plan, monitor and order for a quality kitchen operation.

• Reduces Cost of Purchasing
• Monitors Revenue, Purchases and Profitability
• Menu Cards Linked to Supplier's Pricelists and Updated AutomaticallyUnique Kitchen Management System highly adaptable for each outlet

Among the many benefits are:

• Groupwide Menu Bank with or without Local Autonomy Possible
• All Data Stored to Build Historical Information
• Staff Feeding Accounted for
• Reduction of Aggravation
• Staff Empowerment, Product Knowledge and Role Enhancement
• Detailed Training Manual - Covers Health and Safety, COSHH, HACCP, Nutritional Values, Preparation and Presentation
• Savings Achieved without Degrading Product
• Sales Office Know which Menus / Dishes to Sell
• Suppliers Online Efficiency of Electronic Order Process
• Monitors Suppliers Price Changes
• Immediate Daily Access to Suppliers Promotions
• Highlights Inaccurate and Missed Postings
• All Purchases Monitored in line with Sales Forecast
• Sales Tracked Daily by Outlet Theoretical GP% Produced Weekly

The North Eastern Universities Purchasing Consortium (NEUPC) is one of six HE regional purchasing consortia in the UK (HEPCW, SUPC, NWUPC, APUC and LUPC). NEUPC lets and manages framework agreements on behalf of its twenty three member universities. Utilising a partnering approach NEUPC operates as a centralised procurement function and structure for its members. NEUPC’s vision - 'To be the best collaborative partner that fully supports the procurement activity of our members' - advocates working together to provide collaborative procurement support, guidance, systems and processes and agreements that are aligned to, and actively support our members needs, values and objectives.

NEUPC collaborate closely with other purchasing consortia to ensure that value for money is achieved, not only by its members but also the other purchasing consortia members. Some of NEUPC’s agreements are tendered exclusively for NEUPC members but we also collaborate with the other regional purchasing consortia to share the tendering workload and this means that sometimes an agreement will be awarded by one consortium but will be available for other consortia to use.

Owing to the high spend potential for NEUPC’s agreements; we are required to competitively tender our framework agreements and contracts under EU public procurement regulations. This involves a process under which we advertise forthcoming agreements in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) and then assess and evaluate tender responses under strict guidelines. NEUPC ensures that suppliers of goods and service are capable of serving all the NEUPC’s Members and, for national contracts, across the UK higher education sector, with a high standard of quality and service and a commitment to competitive pricing.

North Western Universities Purchasing Consortium Limited (NWUPC) is a not for profit company owned by its Higher Education Full Member Institutions. Its main aim is "To provide a structure for higher education institutions mutually to secure value for money in matters relating to the purchasing of goods and services".

NWUPC is one of 6 regional higher education purchasing consortia in the UK and is made up of Higher Education Institutions and associate members from Further Education and other Public Sector Bodies.

NWUPC is responsible for letting EU compliant Framework Agreements. All agreements are let following a competitive tendering exercise and are tendered through the European Procurement Directives.

For further details on the NWUPC please visit the website: www.nwupc.ac.uk

Southern Universities Purchasing Consortium (SUPC) is the largest of the six regional higher education purchasing consortia that operate throughout the UK. SUPC was formed in 1974 when a handful of universities came together for the collaborative purchase of stationery.

It has now grown to a membership of over one hundred higher and further education institutions and offers its members a wide range of collaborative purchase agreements covering most commodity areas.

Support, Training & Services Ltd (STS) is a UK based international company, specialising in "food safety" and "health & safety who offer a full range of services in respect of these areas including training and supplier accreditation.

STS audit food manufacturers, suppliers and distributors, all by Environmental Health Officers, additionally trained as Lead Assessors of quality systems. STS audit to their own published standard which is based on UK, European and International food safety and due diligence standards. Frequency of re-audit is based on an inspection rating scheme, which assesses the risk arising from the products supplied, the size of the business and performance during the audit.

Accreditation certificates are presented to approved suppliers.

STS provides monthly reports to TPL of the supplier audits that have been carried out and these are held on file at the TPL Offices. An overview of the audits applicable to the TPL Contracts is available.