Explore our building solutions to find out how we can support you with campus and estates maintenance and improvements, construction, modular buildings, renewable energy, carbon net zero, sustainability, facilities management.
Universities and colleges
With rising costs and the need to demonstrate value, we’re here to empower you to get the best from your procurements, leaving you with time and resources to focus on what matters most. We know that, despite their unique identities, universities and colleges often have a similar set of requirements. That’s why our dedicated team is here to support you in using procurement as a powerful force for change.
Whether you’re looking to achieve growth in student numbers, increase quality, improve outcomes or meet your social value obligations – our expert advice and innovative commercial agreements can help you do just that.
Through a network of regional experts, acting as your single point of contact, we provide you with a wealth of free services and support:
- access to over 100 professionally tendered frameworks and agreements, each offering maximum commercial value both in terms of time and money while being compliant with procurement regulations
- competitively priced goods from a vast and diverse range of suppliers, including an ever increasing number of SMEs across the UK
- varied methods of purchasing solutions including digital marketplaces, frameworks, and dynamic purchasing systems
- aggregated purchasing opportunities enabling you to collaborate with other institutions across the public and third sector to maximise your buying power
- commercial expertise, guidance and support in all aspects of procurement, from day to-day purchasing and immediate solutions for unexpected challenges, through to guiding your long-term procurement strategy development
- supporting procurement teams in working more closely with their academic and professional service colleagues, to promote efficient and compliant procurement across an institution
Procurement solutions for the higher and further education sector
Whether you are a procurement manager responsible for buying office supplies, an IT manager responsible for upgrading your IT networks and equipment, or a finance manager looking to improve your payment processes, our aim is to get to know you and your specific needs so we can provide you with opportunities to achieve the best value. You can buy a range of common products and services across the categories below using Crown Commercial Service (CCS) commercial agreements.
Through our people solutions we can support universities and colleges with legal advice, management consultancy, auditing services, payment systems and spend recovery services, academic and professional workforce planning, apprenticeships and training, employee benefits, occupational health, contact centre and web chat support.
Our corporate solutions provide a diverse range of services including; overseas and national travel, vehicle lease and purchase, office supplies, print, postal services, financial and insurance services, media buying, marketing and communications, campaign solutions.
Our team of experts work to provide our customers with the latest technological developments and solutions, services include: G-Cloud, IT hardware, software led systems, cyber security solutions, network services and education technology.
Blogs, news and case studies
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Commercial Pipeline update
Following a review of our pipeline, we have transitioned some agreements to PCR 2015 and extended others.
Read more about Commercial Pipeline update -
Legacy IT or the cloud?: digital transformation in the public sector
Learn how public sector organisations can overcome common legacy IT challenges.
Read more about Legacy IT or the cloud?: digital transformation in the public sector -
Our new CEO, Sam Ulyatt sets out her vision and priorities for CCS
Two months into her new role as CEO, Sam Ulyatt sat down with Civil Service World to talk all things procurement
Read more about Our new CEO, Sam Ulyatt sets out her vision and priorities for CCS
Making responsible buying decisions
Our commercial agreements can help you achieve your sustainability and social value objectives and address the risk of modern slavery.
Watch the short video to learn all about our Procurement Essentials series. You can also view the transcript.
Our bitesize guides to common procurement concepts
Our new Procurement Essentials series covers a wide range of topics to help demystify the procurement process including the basics of frameworks, effective contract management, how to evaluate bids, and how to write a specification.
We’ll be continuing to add new articles every month, sharing our top tips and guidance to help you save time, maximise every pound and bring power to your procurement.
You can now find all of our Procurement Essentials articles in one place.
Get in touch
We're here to help power your procurement. Tell us if there is something we can help you with and one of our expert team members will be in touch.
Talk to us
You can also contact us by email or phone
Email: info@crowncommercial.gov.uk
Telephone: 0345 410 2222
CCS customer services team is available Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.