Price vs. purpose in Education procurement
Discover how school procurement teams can purchase responsibly, adhere to compliance and drive growth in the face of cost pressures.
We surveyed 155 education procurement professionals across Europe and found:
81%
admit their organisation could be doing more to prioritise responsible procurement
68%
say responsible practices are not as important to the organisation as their external positioning suggests
37%
of education organisations use a single purchasing platform for managing the organisation’s tail spend.
Amazon Business research reveals a gulf between words and actions in education
Ethical and sustainable procurement is reportedly a top priority for procurement teams, but rising costs, supplier issues and weak spend controls routinely prevent schools from making more responsible choices.
Our new report offers practical guidance for teams to embed sustainable, audit-ready practices whilst meeting regulatory demands and sustaining broader, economic conditions.
“There’s a growing expectation that school budgets balance the books but also deliver on wider objectives such as sustainability, inclusion and equity. Procurement decision-makers must navigate both immediate financial constraints and longer-term policy ambitions.”
— Professor Jens Roehrich and Dr Christoph Schmidt, University of Bath, UK
Download the report and uncover steps education organisations can take to manage risks, improve spend control and embed more responsible practices.
Our findings include:
• Cost and efficiency dominate agendas: making efficiency gains and reducing purchasing costs are the top two priorities for education procurement teams in the next 12 months.
• Responsible procurement is a priority: whilst teams are focused on implementing more responsible processes, cost-cutting ultimately takes priority over responsible purchasing.
• Professionals recognise the risks of a low-price focus: chasing the lowest price can increase long-term costs, creating a false economy and may lead to unethical practices.
• Practical hurdles prevent progress: barriers to adopting responsible practices include a limited pool of qualified suppliers, a lack of insight on off-tender spending and the challenges of working with outdated systems.