# Online office procurement saves Cancer Research UK over £2.5 million

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2006/07/16/online-office-procurement-saves-cancer-research-uk-over-25-million/
- Published: 2006-07-16T23:00:00+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

Cancer Research UK has saved over £2.5 million per annum through a series of online
auctions to purchase office supplies, IT hardware and laboratory consumables.

The charity has worked with procurement consultants Aria Insite since December 2004
to improve the way it manages its procurement budget, which in 2005/6 was £130 million.

Following a detailed spend analysis across all of its UK laboratories, Cancer Research
UK and Aria identified the range of items that would be most suited to an online
auction. Aria then brought in Vendigital, a specialist procurement company with 
particular expertise in online auctions, to manage the full auction process from
end to end.

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The first online auction to source office supplies delivered 30% savings to the 
charity. The auction to source IT hardware including desktops and laptops saved 
Cancer Research UK a further 20%, and another 33% was saved via the auction for 
laboratory consumables and equipment such as chemicals, plastics and personal protection
equipment.

Through the latter auction, the charity also managed to reduce its number of suppliers
from over 200 to fewer than six.

Belinda Turner, Procurement Director at Cancer Research UK said: “Initially, there
was some scepticism that online auctions could deliver such huge savings. Now with
three projects under our belts, we are convinced that this approach is extremely
valuable.

“We are now developing a more holistic approach across all our procurement – this
is not about centralising procurement, rather about sharing best practice with our
individual buyers and helping them to buy more cost effectively.”

Peter Garnett, Managing Director at Aria Insite, said: “The auctions are only successful
because Vendigital follows rigorous processes before, during and after the actual
events. This process involves supplier headhunting, managing supplier participation,
running the auction event, final assessments of suppliers with the best prices through
to ensuring the successful implementation with the chosen suppliers.”

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