May 2019 – EPS Corporate services organised the Higher Education Summit in partnership with the HEA. It emphasised the importance of planning for the future to ensure better outcomes through the delivery of value for money savings as well as consideration of social and environmental factors to help promote sustainability.

April 2019 – EPS partnered with the ETBI to develop the Education and Training Board’s (ETB) Corporate Procurement Plan (CPP) template and Multi Annual Procurement Plan (MAPP), tailored specifically to meet the needs of the ETB’s. The Education Training Boards of Ireland ran a very successful conference in April 2019. The day gave valuable insights into the need for good governance, consistency and transparency in the expenditure of public funds.

L to R: Denise O’Malley (Corporate Service Manager, EPS), Mary Rose Cremin (Director, Audit & Assurance, Deloitte), Paul O’Toole (Interim CEO, HEA), Joe McHugh, TD (Minister for Education and Skills), Philip Gurnett (Head of Sourcing Education, EPS), David Mangan (Portfolio Manager, EPS), Paul Quinn (CEO, OGP) and Eleanor Stokes (Key Account Manager, OGP)

April 2018 – The Higher Education Summit was held at St. Laurence’s, DIT Grangegorman.

The Summit saw EPS launch the Corporate Procurement Plan (CPP) template for the Higher Education sector. Speakers included Philip Gurnett, EPS Director and Head of Sourcing Education , Graham Love, Chief Executive of the HEA and Deirdre McDonnell, Assistant Secretary General, Major Operations Division, Department of Education and Skills, Mary Rose Cremin, Deloitte, Mags O’Callaghan, Office of Government Procurement. Denise O’Malley, EPS Corporate Service Manager launched the CPP at the summit. The pack contained the MAPP template and guidelines as an appendix to the CPP to support users in completing the reports.

The summit outlined the benefits of adopting the CPP uniformly across education to provide compliance, strong governance, openness, transparency and deliver best value for money for the tax payer.

May 2017 – The Higher Education Procurement Summit was held in Bedford Hall, Dublin Castle.

The Summit was organised by EPS in conjunction with the Higher Education Authority. Speakers included Philip Gurnett, EPS Director and Head of Sourcing Education, Graham Love, Chief Executive of the HEA, Mary Rose Cremin, Deloitte, Mags O’Callaghan, Office of Government Procurement and Seán Ó Foghlú, the Secretary General of the Department of Education and Skills. The event brought together key personnel from Higher Education Institutions to discuss the common challenges faced and opportunities arising given the government decision to centralise procurement. The summits key message was the importance of good procurement compliance and governance throughout the Education sector with the support of the Department of Education and Skills, the Higher Education Authority and the Education Procurement Service. The summit was well received by the attendees.