Professional Services and Procurement

Dear colleagues, 

Our University has a critical founding mission to provide Australia with the research and education capacity needed to accelerate national prosperity. To do so successfully we must continue to evolve and reshape how we operate.  

This year, ANU has implemented several strategic changes to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of our professional services.  

This is because our University needs exemplary services to support our academic mission while facing the reality of operating at a deficit in a changing external policy environment. The current uncertainly for our revenue growth was highlighted by our Vice-Chancellor at the recent Senate Education and Legislation Committee inquiry into international education.  

We are now expanding the scope of our work into how we can continue to provide exemplary services within our current means. Staff surveys consistently report that our procurement practices and services are fragmented and do not meet the needs of staff and students. As a supportive and effective administrative environment is critical to fulfilling our academic mission, we will be making further improvements to our procurement and operational processes. This work is informed by careful deliberations by our Strategic Leadership Group. 

We are currently undertaking a comprehensive review of the following areas to improve professional administrative support across our campus: 

• Research support and research facilities, led by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research & Innovation), Professor Lachlan Blackhall 
• Learning and teaching, and students, led by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Professor Grady Venville 
• External engagement and communications, led by the Chief Communications Officer, Steven Fanner 
• Institutional management and governance, led by the University Secretary, Phillip Tweedie  

We have also established an Expenditure Taskforce, which will focus on cost savings across the University, including: 

• Existing assets 
• Expenditure on major line items, such as software licences 
• Expenditure on consultants and contractors 
• Improvements to procurement practices and consolidation of expenditure and suppliers 
• Existing practices around stores and stock management 

This taskforce will be chaired by our Chief Operating Officer, Jonathan Churchill, with representatives from across campus whose expertise includes procurement and financial management.

We are taking a structured approach to this review, and no decisions have been made about changes in any of these areas. Initially, we will define the scope of the review, including functions, objectives, and timeframes. Over the coming weeks, the functional leaders of these areas will collaborate with teams across Colleges and Divisions to complete a diagnostic exercise. This will help validate potential opportunities and, where appropriate, develop an approach to redesign and implementation. Upon completion of this scoping exercise in October, decisions will be made about which areas require further development, with appropriate consultation. 

This work will build on the 2020 Service Performance Framework which was codesigned by ANU staff and students.  

We have discussed these activities with Council, and they share our energy for this work and for the positive impact they know it will deliver.

We will continue to update our community regularly in On Campus. Thank you for your support and engagement. 

Kind regards,  

Rebekah and Jonathan

Professor Rebekah Brown                         Jonathan Churchill

Provost and Senior Vice-President          Chief Operating Officer