Supply Management reported this week that state income for some universities will be reduced from 60 percent to 40 percent, which will take many below the 50 percent marker that requires EU public procurement rule compliance.

Could reductions in public funding have an upside for universities and ring the changes in sourcing and procurement?

Minister for universities and science, David Willets thinks so.

While the cuts will hit universities hard, supply chain agility will offer a real opportunity. Establishments, like our client Durham University, will be able to operate more like the dynamic buyers of the private sector rather than the public procurement teams that so often get tangled up in red tape.

Being released from EU public procurement rules will mean that the higher education sector can start a new term of bigger savings and greater local economic support.