Free Practice Questions for the CIPS Level 3 Advanced Certificate in Procurement and Supply Operations L3M2 Exam (2026 Updated)

Explanation

Expediting - a task, which in an ideal world would not normally need to exist - is seeking to ensure delivery is made in line with contract and / or organisational needs.

It has nothing to do with permission to spend, auditing, or preparing for an expedition.

Explanation

Supply Management annual awards are external, and while they may be impressive, they are not to be relied upon as a measure of internal customer service.

The other answers offered however, can be effective in this regard.

Explanation

Standard operating procedure.

A set of step-by-step instructions to direct employees how to perform routine operations (Profex Publishing).

Explanation

Output per unit of input resource.

Efficiency is, in a sense, seeking to get as much out of a system, while putting in as little as possible.

Explanation

You should be familiar with the meaning of the terms economy, efficiency and effectiveness and able to distinguish one from the other.

Explanation

The Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle, attributed to Deming, stresses the need for action in improving quali-ty. Plan Do Check and Assess would have been close to the correct answer, but not quite close enough.

The other responses shown here are simply made up to fit the letters.

Explanation

Fishbone diagram.

Explanation

'Fit for purpose'.

This expression is used as / in definitions of quality, as well as being included in parts of UK legisla-tion (Sale of Goods Act).

Explanation

All of the ones shown, except acting as a means of exchange, which is one of the parts of a defini-tion of money.

Explanation

The correct answer is 'tolerances'. The tighter the tolerance ie the more restrictive the specification, the more challenging for a supplier to deliver, and the more costly it is likely to become.

Explanation

This is a definition of extortion.

The other terms shown as possible answers are within the syllabus for this course and may be the subject of other questions within this test.

Explanation

Whilst alerting senior managers to wrongdoing within the organisation may be whistling in the wind, requiring one to wet one's whistle afterwards, the term for this increasingly common practice in organisations is 'whistleblowing'.

Explanation

The others may be stakeholders, but the answer is 'stakeholders' - those who have a legitimate inter-est in what is going on.

Explanation

Lifetime costing, TCO and whole life costing are essentially the same concept - looking at buying based on total costs over the useful life of an asset, not just the purchase price. Although this con-cept seems obvious once you know it, very many people, including senior managers as well as politi-cians, seem to be unfamiliar with the notion.

Explanation

FACE2FACE

An alternative to Carter's 10 C's.

Fixed assets, ability to deliver, cost, efficiency

Financial stability, ability to work with the buyer, commitment to quality, environmental / ethical factors.

Explanation

Make, do or buy decision.

Historically 'make or buy'. Now up dated to take account of services procurement ie 'should we do it ourselves?'

Explanation

Transparency.

Explanation

Functionality.

The idea of value analysis or value engineering is that cost should be taken out of the product, whilst enabling the same performance.

Explanation

Alternative dispute resolution (ADR)

The other terms shown are irrelevant / fictional.

Explanation

The correct answer is ISO 9000 - this was based originally on the British Standard BS 5750.

ISO 14,001 is an environmental management standard.

ISO 19,000 is a management systems standard.

Explanation

A performance specification concentrates on the outputs of whatever it is you're buying.

Explanation

It's the 'materials usage budget'.

This budget would help monitor whether the usage of materials was in line with forecast (budget), or whether there was a variance.

Explanation

Early buyer involvement