CIPS L4M8 - Procurement and Supply in Practice

When reviewing supplier’s response the procurement professional should consider the right quantity of product or service that has to be ordered at anytime as against the price to decide how to gain the best cost.

Factors to consider include the following

(1)Cost of inventory

(2) cost of insurance

(3) cost of transportation.

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Corporate Social responsibility (CSR) policies state how organizations aim to contribute towards the community and how an organization portrays itself towards social impacts.

After a need in an organization has been identified/understood, defined, justified and authorized, the next stages are to understand how commodity prices are reacting, which suppliers are available and their strength. The make or buy decision can be reached with knowledge from this; the procurement professional can consider the organization external environment, strength, weakness opportunity and threat to develop strategy/plan of how to achieve the procurement.

‘STEEPLE’ is an effective way to evaluate the external environment. It helps buyers to assess factors that could affect the need in hand and helps them to develop the plan accordingly. ‘STEEPLE’ is an acronym which stands for,

Social, Technology, Economic, Environment, Political, Legal, Ethical

‘SWOT’ helps the organization to analyze its strength and within the organization and the oppor-tunity and threats outside the organization.

‘SWOT’ is an acronym which stands for, strength, weakness, opportunity and threats.

Fullpower projects is a training firm that trains on project management and procurement. It has the following values and ethical code of practice

1) Accountability

2) selflessness

3) openness

4) integrity

5) objectives

6) Honesty

7) Leadership

Disposal of an asset is the final stage in the decommissioning process of a fixed asset.

When a fixed asset reaches the end of its useful or cost effective life time within an organization, the decision is made as to whether it should be removed from the premises or disposed off.

If the asset is truly at the end of its life, no longer fit for purpose, not cost effective to repair and is not able to be exchanged, then disposal is the only option; there are two options for disposal;

1) Take the asset to land fill site

2) Taking the asset to a recycling plant.

A weighted score card is a tool with a systematic and a fair process for selecting supplier, based on predetermined criteria. This tool can help make the decision by presenting a fair display of how all suppliers did in the process. The values of these weights are based on their importance. The supplier with the highest score card is considered the most suitable to be awarded the contract.

In the table above, cost is considered more than all other criteria. Contract length is the lowest which is weighted 2

Base on the weighted score card as presented above, company B scored 78 while company A and company C scored 65 and 63 respectively.

Company A, having scored the highest (78) should be awarded the contract.

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The social impact of an organization is formed by various behaviors. If an organization; behavior is poor this will create social impact which is likely to be reflected in the business performance. Organizations which display poor behavior face outcomes such as the following.

1. Reduce brand loyalty

2. Difficulty in recruiting

3. Negative media coverage

4. Reduced sales/profit

5. reputation damage

Trying to measure how sustainable an organization was used to be challenging undertaking. How-ever, during the 1990s, a concept brought up by American John Elkington change the way sustainability was measured. This framework is known as the triple bottom line (TBL) and measures sustainability in relation to organizational performance and investment against the 3Ps (1) Profits (2) People (3) Planet. For example;

Profit: A packaging manufacturer reinventing its profits in a State- of-the-art recycling machinery for it wasted cardboard.

People: A large privately owned call center donate its end of life computers to a local youth clubs and social groups to help gain internet cases.

Planet: A driving instructors using only hybrid vehicles to teach her learners, thus to reducing Co2 emission.

The TBL, although a useful tool, is simply a way of recording how sustainable an organization is. Alone, it does not contribute towards any improvements or generate any actions promoting a more favorable, sustainable outlook. Objectives should be set in relation to what the 3Ps show and then monitored by implementing KPIs or other measuring methods.

If a supplier is accredited or is a member of an association that promotes good ethical conduct, a statement to this effect is likely to be featured on its company documentation. This could be in a form of letters after the organization name or the authorized use of logo.

Accreditation information should be verified by procurement professionals either asking organiza-tion for certification to prove membership or accreditation or checking on a professional register.

Below are associated bodies that form some industries.

1. ISO 14001 – for quality management

2. CIPS – for procurement and Supply

3. Red Tractor – NGO Registered in the UK, promoting human right

4. Amnesty International – human right

5. Carbon Trust – For Carbon neutral status.

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Tangible costs are the cost an organization incur acquiring items that can be physically touched and or seen. Examples includes; 1) Capital Purchase 2) Raw materials 3) Sundry items 4) Vehi-cles/transport 5) Utilities

Intangible costs are the cost an organization incurs acquiring something that cannot be physically seen or touched. Examples include; 1) Insurance 2) Marketing 3) Research and development 4) Salaries and/pension 5) Services 6) Training.

Direct costs – These are costs that an organization incurs acquiring product and services directly attributable/traceable to its production, for example, the cost of labour and materials directly uses to produce the goods/services which the organization sells. In the case of buying and running a Lorry for transport fleet, this would be 1) total cost of acquiring the lorry,) Tooling 3) Operation.

Indirect cost - These are costs that are not directly associated to production, for example, materials and services not used in production, labour/ staff cost not directly attributed to production, such as management, sales and marking, ICT support, rents. In the case of buying and running a Lorry for transport fleet. Examples are; 1) Insurance 2) Disposal.

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