• 3,300 Primary Schools
• 751 Post-Primary Schools
• 7 Universities
• 15 Institutes of Technology
• 8 Teacher Training Colleges

• 5 Education & Library Boards
• 899 Primary Schools
• 390 Post-Primary Schools including special schools
• 2 Universities
• 17 Institutes and Colleges

Key purchasers:

The Department of Education & Science (Primary and Secondary Sections)

The Boards of Management of the schools and VEC Management

The Purchasing Managers in the Universities and the Finance Departments in the Institutes.

Within the schools sector purchasing is mainly decentralised.

The exception is capital projects which are managed by the Department of Education and Science.

Schools are directly responsible for their own procurements of supplies and services.

In the university sector, there are nominated Purchasing Managers. However there is a degree of purchasing carried out by the various departments.

In the Institutes of Technology the Finance Departments play a key role in co-ordinating purchasing.

Key purchasers:

The Purchasing Managers in the Education & Library Boards

The individual universities, colleges and institutes

The Education & Library Boards administer a number of contracts on behalf of schools. Most of these are period contracts on a call-off as required basis.

The five boards operate a system of joint contracting, where one board administers a contract on behalf of all five boards.

Many of the contracts placed are joint board contracts.

An index of existing contracts and their contract periods is maintained on the internet.

Purchasing is centralised in the third level education sector.