08 December 2020 
Ashley Shelbrooke, HEPA and Project Specialist
Welcome to the December edition of the HEPA Digest.
We are very pleased to share our BUFDG and HEPA guidance on the Imports of Goods from 1 January 2021. You can download your copy here. Of particular interest procurement practitioners will be section 3 and section 4:
The guide will be updated as more information becomes available from HMRC, so do keep an eye on the website or developments.
We ran a series of Customs Training courses in October and November which were very popular and received great feedback. If there is enough interest, we will run one further session on Wednesday 20 January 2021. The link to book is here, and if we do not get enough bookings then we will cancel the course and of course provide a full refund to those who have paid.
The Procurement Value Survey (PVS) is now open for your Institution’s submission for 2019/20. You can access the survey here. The HEPA website contains a whole host of resources to help you with your submission including the Efficiencies page which is home to the Benefits Methodology for 2019/20 and a dedicated PVS Help page which provides guidance on calculating impactable spend, treatment of VAT and other frequently asked questions.
If you or a member of your team are unable to access the PVS here then please do let me know and I will sort this out. Similarly, if you have any questions then please do drop me an email.
The PVS is an excellent opportunity to benchmark your performance and to help our procurement profession demonstrate the real value that it delivers to the sector. Please do get your submission in advance of the closing date at the end of January 2021.
As you will know, we were not able to run a HEPA Conference this year; the same was true for the BUFDG Conference. But – fear not – we are returning with an online Conference over five days in March next year covering all aspects of university finance, including, of course, Procurement!
All the details of the BUFDG Conference 2021 are available on our dedicated web page here. The Wednesday of the Conference – 17 March 2021 – is shaping up to be a procurement / HEPA focused day, with an exciting plenary to be announced to start the day and several fascinating workshops throughout. Please do save the date(s) and watch out for further programme announcements early next year!
We are running two final time to talk sessions this year on asset re-use and privacy shield and there is still (just!) enough time to book places for yourself, your team or colleagues:
You may have heard Warpit mentioned by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation team during their session at the LUPC and SUPC Responsible Procurement event? Join Daniel O’Connor for a time to talk looking at how you can find, give away, or loan office furniture, equipment and other resources: a must for any institution looking to save money and move towards a circular economy model. Book here.
We are pleased to welcome Mark Williamson, Partner, Clyde & Co. for a time to talk covering Privacy Shield. Mark specialises in tech, data and outsourcing, and will present on the recent Schrems II case, which invalidated the US Privacy Shield and placed a greater onus on individual organisations when transferring personal data outside of the EEA. Book here.
