Founded in 1850, Bradfield College is a co-educational independent senior boarding and day school based in the beautiful setting of Bradfield, near Reading. Bradfield caters for 724 pupils of which 613 are boarders.
The Background
Having previous worked on a number of spend categories for the College, Minerva was asked to assist with a review of their reprographics provision in 2013. Working with Yvonne Horner, Office Services Supervisor and manager of the main College print room, the project aimed to achieve the following objectives:
• Introduce greater capability for staff to print at any device over the site and install a number of additional devices where required.
• Upgrade the devices in the print room to allow more work to be completed in-house as opposed to being outsourced.
• Significantly improve print management information allowing costs to be billed back to the appropriate departments within the College.
• Award the contract to a supplier who could work proactively with the College to implement future strategies to:
o maximise efficiency
o reduce cost, where appropriate
o take advantage of new advances in technology
Methodology
The review commenced with a Pre-Qualification Questionnaire being prepared and sent to more than a dozen potential suppliers of varying sizes and capabilities. The PQQ covered off the more ‘nuts and bolts’ aspect of each company such as insurance cover, financial strength, resourcing levels, educational experience.
The PQQ stage enabled the number of companies being considered to reduce to 6. These suppliers were required to submit a full Request for Proposal . The RFP enabled the companies being considered to detail the full plans of what they envisaged being implemented at the College as well as full pricing.
The RFP stage enabled 4 companies to be shortlisted for interview with the College. This gave Yvonne Horner the opportunity to meet each potential company to ask further questions and consider the ongoing working relationship. It further allowed Derek Fargher (Financial Controller) to drill down into the financial aspects of the proposals.
The Results
Unlike the majority of Minerva projects, which are based on identifying monetary savings, the College engaged us on a consultancy basis knowing that they simply wouldn’t have the time available to conduct the project in the in-depth manner necessary. The annual spend across reprographics runs into many thousands of pounds and so a fully robust review which would stand up to bursar and governor scrutiny was essential. The College were delighted with the results and now have full functionality, cost efficient, provision across the site with the comfort of knowing they are using up to date technology. All of the objectives set at the outset of the project were achieved.
Customer Feedback
“The College has been using Minerva for various procurement reviews since 2010. We have been continuously happy with the work they have completed for us which is why we appointed them to assist us with our reprographics review. To complete the project in the detailed and professional way that Minerva managed to would have taken staff at the College hundreds of hours that we simply didn’t have available.
Lorraine and her team listened to all of our requirements and used these to produce documents which allowed us to easily review and compare offerings from numerous suppliers.
All ongoing communications throughout the review were conducted by Minerva leaving College staff free to ‘get on with the day job’.
Minutes of meetings and interviews were provided which made the job of Derek Fargher, Financial Controller, much easier when it came to writing the business case to present to the bursar and governors.
We’re incredibly happy with the outcome of the project and the supplier we have chosen. I cannot recommend Minerva highly enough. Not only are they experts in their field but they’re also a real pleasure to work with making each project enjoyable.”
Yvonne Horner, Office Services Supervisor, Bradfield College February 2014
