L4M8 Procurement and Supply in Practice Questions and Answers

Stakeholder are individuals or organizations that can be affected directly or indirectly by any project or decision. For successful procurement activities to take place, stakeholders must be identified, engaged and managed. Not all stakeholders require the same level of engagement and management. To appropriately manage identified stakeholders, the Mendelow management matrix has categorized stakeholders in four quadrants, according to how low or high their power and interest in the project could be. The four categories are:

1) Minimum effort (low power-Low interest)

2) Keep satisfied (high power-Low interest)

3) Keep informed (Low power – high interest)

4) Manage closely (High power- High interest)

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When a contract has been awarded, either is to meet tangible needs or intangible needs, contractors or suppliers should be managed to ensure that they are meeting up with fulfilling their contractual agreement. To establish this, there are methods of managing contracts and suppliers.

Service level agreement (SLA) clauses: is placed in contract to ensures that supplier meets the expected and agreed level of service

Key performance indicator (KPI): are used to manage contracts that fulfill tangible needs, the KPIs are set performance thresholds that are used to monitor supplier’s performance.

Management by objectives (MBO): is the process of defining objective that are strategic to the organization relating them to the vision and mission and communicating them to the supplier through the contract and ensuring that this objective is met during contract performance.

Reviews: Regular supplier reviews are good practices, for it gives the buyer opportunity to give feedback on performance.

Continuous Improvement: Contracts and suppliers can be monitored through how they are chang-ing for better incrementally as they are fulfilling the schedule. There must be a set down system to timely improve on the process, people and continuously reduce waste.

Training: It is essential that training, are provided to come up on areas supplier is lacking.

During the sourcing stage of the procurement cycle, the procurement professional needs to identify and select suppliers to fulfill the business needs. Supplier selection involves evaluating suppliers against predetermine criteria to assess their suitability in working with the buying organization. Suppliers can be evaluated according to Carter’s 10Cs which are as follows: (1) Competency (2) capacity (3) consistency (4) control (5) cost (6) commitment (7) cash (8) Clean (9) culture (10) communication.

Procurement professionals can decide to evaluate and select suppliers based on the overall strategy and the business objectives. After that, it most suitable suppliers receive the documentation (Invitation to tender/ request for quotation).

In the decision to not run out of supplies, organizations can anticipate a peak were by it products will be in a high demand or a period of scarcity of raw materials and may want to increase the in-ventory. However, if this forecast is not accurate, it may lead the organization to holding excess inventory. This can expose the organization to some negative factors.

Acquisition Cost: The organization will incur an acquisition cost for the excess inventory which is inclusive of the cost of placing the order and the cost of purchasing the goods.

Holding Cost: The organization will spend more money holding the stock, trying to keep it in good condition by providing the required light, temperature, skilled handlers and so on.

Working Capital not adding value: This will off shoot the holding cost. Also valuable working capital in excess stock which in the time not adding value, can affect the liquidity of the business. This is also an opportunity cost and increase solvency.

The abuse of power within the supply chain can be linked to corruption. If individuals with seniority favor one supplier over another, they can exercise their power to award the contract to whoever they wish. According to CIPS code of conduct, this is not ac-ceptable.

According to French and Raven, there are five types of power (Legitimate power, Re-ward, Expert, Referent and Coercive), and these powers can most likely be used in corruption.

Contract performance review and continuous improvement is the stage 11 of the CIPS procurement and supply cycle.

In order to effectively manage supplier performance and contractual obligations, the suppliers per-formance against key performance indicators (KPI) should be reviewed regularly. This KPI should have been agreed doing the post contract award negotiation. In addition to review KPIs suppliers and the procurement team should work towards continuous improvement. This is a continuous ef-fort to improve product or services within an organization. This may involve improving quality, reducing waste in the supply chain and focusing on innovation. It is an ongoing process that works toward perfection.

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By using STEEPLE and SWOT analysis, the organization can reach out to the following strategic decision in how it will engage with its external environment, and utilize it strength to cover up for its weakness and achieve its strategic goals;

1) STEEPLE can aid an organization to come up with informed decision by understanding when is the right time to procure goods or services?

2) STEEPLE and SWOT analysis can uncover the quantity that could be most economical to ac-quire at the point in time.

3) When an organization want to decide on the currency that could be most favorable for the buy, it will analyze the countries involved and the strength of their currency and make its decisions on which currency that the supplier should be paid that will not make the organization to lose unnecessary money to exchange.

4) Should the product or services be made or bought?

5) Should the product or services be resourced?

6) Should the product or services be placed?

Bribery is the act of giving someone something of value to persuade them to do something that benefits you. Ethical and responsible sourcing requires conducting due diligence on bribery before going into contractual relationship because failure to this might lead to loss in reputation.

In other for an organization to defend itself against a case of suspected bribery, the United Kingdom bribery Act introduced in 2010 suggests that organizations should have adequate procedures’ in place.

The following are six procedures an organization should have in place to be able to defend itself against bribery

1) Proportionate procedure

2) Top level commitment

3) risk assessment

4) due diligence

5) communication

6) monitoring and reviewing

Stakeholder are individuals or organizations that can be affected directly or indirectly by any project or decision. For successful procurement activities to take place, stakeholders must be identified, engaged and managed. Not all stakeholders require the same level of engagement and management. To appropriately manage identified stakeholders, the Mendelow management matrix has categorized stakeholders in four quadrants, according to how low or high their power and interest in the project could be. The four categories are:

1) Minimum effort (low power-Low interest)

2) Keep satisfied (high power-Low interest)

3) Keep informed (Low power – high interest)

4) Manage closely (High power- High interest)

When organization has made the decision about which option is best for sourcing the asset, it can then begin to work on the whole life asset management strategy.

Whole life asset management is the process of evaluating the total price and all associated costs of a product to make an informed decision as to which option will provide the organization with the best value for money. This strategy is only under taken for large-value procurements because; 1) It takes considerable time (2) It involves many stakeholders and require numerous resources; If whole life asset management were conducted on every purchase it would not create value for the organization and that may tie up valuable resources.

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When evaluating offers, it is important to remember that the best price may not be the lowest. To ascertain that; the total cost of Acquisition TCA (the cost a buyer bears for placing orders and re-ceiving a product from a supplier) should be uncovered and compare against offers received. Things to consider that might make up the total cost of acquisition are;

1) logistics and handling costs

2) Cost of requisition

3) Rework

4) stock cost

5) Delay

6) Inspection

7) customer services

8) consumables

9) Training & support

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Terms are the right and duties agreed between parties which are then documented in contract. Terms can be implied or expressed.

Implied terms are always present in a contract and are set by national laws; implied terms do not have to be written or verbally agreed : they always exist, for example sales of Gods Act, good being fit for purpose, Negligence ,confidence , whereas expressed terms are negotiated and agreed rather than being automatically included, express terms are agreed between, parties negotiating the contract. For example; payment terms, specification, delivery details and quantities.

Hidden costs are costs that do not always present themselves at the onset of the project.

Logistics can provide a hidden cost within global sourcing. The movement of goods can generate risk within a localized supply chain, but the risk is greater within global sourcing. Within global sourcing there are usually many more aspects to the logistics operation, hidden cost associated with the logistics process includes,;1) delays that can be experienced after placing orders, 2) unclear and poor/incorrect communication that might affect the successes of the transaction, also 3) goods could be confiscated by customs for unseen reasons.

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Damages are ‘sum of money that the supplier pays if it fails to carry out its contractual obligation. Damages are categorized into two types; liquidated and un-liquidated.

Liquidate Damages are fixed amount of money agreed between the parties that is payable if a contract is breached. For example, knowing that supplier not being able to install a device properly in a power transformer may destroy the device and going ahead to include a fee in the contract if the device was destroyed.

Un-liquidated damages are unfixed amount of money. It is used when the amount of money that will compensate the injured party cannot be known in advance. A court decides the amount when the damages occur. For example, knowing that supplier not being able to install a device properly in a power transformer may destroy the device, other appliances and equipment unknown, cause the buyer delay in the process and reputational damage as in customer dissatisfaction. Yet, unquantifiable as both party are unable to fix a fee in advance on the damages and leaving it to the court to decide the damage if it may occur.

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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.

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Contract terms are the right and duties agreed between parties with which are then documented in contract. Terms can be either implied or expression.

Implied terms are always present in a contract and are set by national laws; like the sales of goods act, whereas express terms are negotiated and created, for example; time is of the essence. When the procurement professional is setting key performance indicators, where which the supplier’s performance will be monitored and managed, the KPI is expected to be SMART. The SMART is an acronym that is used to set KPI and specification. It means:

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Relevant

Time bound

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.

The process of disposing an asset cannot be without its risk, for example there could be pollution in the community, waste or hazardous materials that could affect the underground water or humans around.

These risks should be identified, evaluated to come up with a response strategy on how to avoid or mitigate them causing damage to human, property, business and the environment.

Supply chain involves a network of individuals, organizations, technology activities and resources to make sure goods or services flow along the chain. If one point fails, every part further along the chain fails.

Fullpower projects (a flour manufacturer) supply chain begins with producers (raw materials, wheat farmers), suppliers, manufactures, distributors, retailers and end users (customer).

Fullpower projects supply chain falls within the primary sector (producers of wheat), the secondary sector include the manufacturing (those that converts the wheat the suppliers brings into flour) and tertiary sector (the distributor those that takes the wheat to the end users).

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When a fixed asset reaches the end of its life, it requires decommissioning before reconditioning or disposal.

Decommissioning is to observe all the safety measures and technical procedures and stop active machinery or an asset from operation (example; gas plant, power generator, transformer etc.

Decommissioning process include the following aspect

1) Preparation: Plan the process

2) Dismantle: Take the asset apart and remove hazardous waste

3) Processing: make safe any hazardous waste

4) Disposal: Ensure paper work is received to confirm removal and disposal

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Responsible and ethical sourcing promotes working with suppliers who want to have a positive effect on the environment or at least minimize the damage they cause. Suppliers can make effort to reduce their impact on the planet through reducing the pollution, taking steps to recycle or reuse products can improve on supplier’s impact on the environment, also supplier can consider sustainability as another environmental factor. Suppliers with strong values on ethics will have a programme to return anything taken from nature in the form of replanting or replacing.

After all the due diligence is carried out, before awarding contract to the best supplier, sometimes procurement professionals find themselves in some problem solving situation; this might have been emanated from supplier facing a financial challenge or problems from external environment. Responding to this might require an amendment or an addendum, depending on the case in hand.

An amendment is for a physical change in the existing contract for example; if a contract contains a negotiated and agreed fixed price for the period of the contract but unexpected market forces such as an economic down turn or force majeure occur, the supplier may have to request an amendment order to continue to make a profit.

An addendum is when an additional document is added to the existing contract for example, If a contract have a schedule of rates and the market forces prices up, an addendum can be added to an existing contract with a revised schedule. Once accepted, the addendum becomes part of the con-tract. Addendum are physically used when the forecasted cost of a project rises and approval is needed to increase the contract spend.

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Ones the need is understood, the procurement professional develops the specifications while working together with stakeholders and colleagues to ensure that the final design is fit for purposes that it meets the generated need.

Specification can be focus on performance or conformance.

Performance specification states what the product or service must do or how it should perform but leave the supplier the freedom to achieve this, however they wish.

Performance specification brings the following advantages; it allows supplier innovation, promote competition in the market place, shorter document, quick to prepare. The disadvantage of perfor-mance specification is that buyers may not know exactly what they will be getting.

Conformance specification gives clear instructions to the supplier about what is required and how it should be achieved. Examples of conformance specifications are chemical formulae, recipes and technical drawings. Conformance specification specifies which standards a requirement must meet or exceed. The advantage of using it is; buyers know exactly what they will get. It has the following disadvantages; the buyer bears the risk, it does not encourage supplier to innovate, take longer and complex documentation.

During the sourcing stage of the procurement cycle, the procurement professional needs to identify and select suppliers to fulfill the business needs. Supplier selection involves evaluating suppliers against predetermine criteria to assess their suitability in working with the buying organization. Suppliers can be evaluated according to Carter’s 10Cs which are as follows: (1) Competency (2) capacity (3) consistency (4) control (5) cost (6) commitment (7) cash (8) Clean (9) culture (10) communication.

Procurement professionals can decide to evaluate and select suppliers based on the overall strategy and the business objectives. After that, it most suitable suppliers receive the documentation (Invitation to tender/ request for quotation).

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The reputation of all the organizations within a supply chain is linked. A Company’s reputation is an intangible asset that can contribute to the failure of an organization if damaged. Factors that could damage organizational reputation within the supply chain are;

1. Quality: if the product or service quality is poor the organization may not satisfy it customers and this can lead to a loss of reputation in the market. For example, a residential building construction company contracting a supplier that would do a bad job which in three months may require home owners to reinstall new doors.

2. Sustainability: if the organization is not replenishing that which it is extracting, it will some day run out of business or probably loss loyal customers. For example a drilling company that spills hydrocarbon as it drills.

3. Fit for purpose: if an organization produce a product or carry out services that are not fit for purpose, it may run at loss for there will be so much rejection and rework. This can lead to customers switching to another organization which product or services are fit for their purpose.

4. Contract management: an organization will have to manage its suppliers and the contracts to ensure they are delivering what they were contracted to do. A poor contract management is a waste in the process of delivery that can lead to reputational loss.

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Fraud occurs when a person acts deliberately to secure monies from another party through dishonest method. Within the supply chain of an organization, fraud can represent itself in the following ways:

1. Kickbacks: e.g. (commission given to a bribe taker for service perform)

2. Corrupt influence (e.g ordering more than what is required)

3. Collusion: (group of suppliers working together to submit multiple bids and split profit.

4. Bid Rigging (a contract is informally agreed with a chosen supplier prior to the official process

5. invoicing fraud

6. Substitution (submitting products that are below the required quality

7. False claims (files false document)

Case Study

A series of news stories reporting events such as the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in 2013 have drawn attention to the poor conditions in garment factories across India and South East Asia. Human rights groups have long be critical of the excessive hours and poor wages workers are forced to endure, as well as the abuse they receive from supervisor. With consumers becoming increasingly aware of these conditions, more pressure is being put on global brands and retailers to ensure their supply chains are fair and ethical.

Certain areas have been notorious for the mistreatment of workers. In India’s textile valley’, young women are been bound into contracts where they work for two to three years, in exchange for a lump sum of money that they can then put towards a dowry. This is known as the ‘Sumangali [a married woman] Thittam’ scheme. These women are forced to live in hostels under restrictions that prevent them from moving, and are denied the opportunity to improve their living conditions. Retailers including Walmart and H & M are known to source garments from factories in the ‘textile valley’.

Reports by organizations including the Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA), Central Combodia, Global Labor Justice, Sedane Labour Resource Centre (LIPS) Indonesia, and Society for Labour and Development (SLD) India have exposed unethically run factories that supply garments to H & M, Gap and Walmart. However, retailers will continue to benefit from expensive labour until mounting customers pressure causes them to change.

The purpose of the tendering process is to invite potential suppliers to bid to supply a product or service to the buying organization. Then buying organization select suitable suppliers, award con-tract and manage. The process is selected mostly when the need is a large or complex project or the law mandates it or it is in the company’s policies to do so. The stages of the tendering process includes;

Stage 1: decide which style of tender to use. There are four types of tendering used within pro-curement and this include; 1) open 2) Restricted 3) Negotiated 4) Competitive Dialogue

Stage 2: Prepare invitation to tender (ITT): this stage is to prepare the document that will be made available to potential supplier. It should contain everything potential bidders will need to know to fully understand the need and to prepare and send a suitable RESPONSE it may likely in-clude; open letter, company details, overview of a project, evaluation criteria, submission date and so on.

Stage 3: send ITT: With fairness, transparency and equality, buyer will provide the documents to all potential suppliers at the same time and also provide exactly the same information/documents to all suppliers. If after receiving the ITT and some suppliers seek clarifications on anything in the documentation, buyers must give same response to identical questions to keep the process transparent and fair. Also, the response to each query to all bidders in the process.

Failure to this may result in bidders who feel disadvantaged or discriminated in any form to submit a legal challenge. Supplier submitting a Legal challenge may cause delay in the process and eventually increase administrative cost for the buyer.

Stage 4: Buying organization receives responses to the Invitation to tender from suppliers (bids). Suppliers must adhere to the bid submission dead line included in the invitation to tender document. Any bid that arrives after the deadline must be left out of the process, or else this may result to other suppliers legally challenging the process.

Stage 5: Evaluate bid. The buying organization can now evaluate the bids based on the criteria in the ITT document. It is always thorough that cross-functional team evaluates the bids to guarantee complete fairness and ensure that the chosen bid is fit for purpose. In evaluating the bids, the cross-functional team will consider the bids in the following areas; supplier organization, ethics, price, sustainability, quality, payment, disposal, service level, location, warranty and risk.

Stage 6: Award contract and give feedback hence the buying organization wards the contract to the winning supplier. This can take place by a formal communication like a letter or an e-mail.

Stage 7: Contract management. Contracts must be evaluated against the criteria in the invitation to tender.

The reasons why these stages must be followed includes;

1. Knowing the right TYPE of tender to use, reduces administration cost, for example, deciding to do restricted tendering to reduce the interest that are going to be sent in have already cut down on administrative cost.

2. The supplier can know what exactly the buyer’s intentions are by developing description and the required specification.

3. To ensure that objectives of resorting to use the tendering style and the tendering process is achieved

4. To ensure that the organization generates added value by going through the stages.

5. To ensure that there are none unethical issues like fraud, bribes etc are not part of the system.

6. To ensure that the tendering process becomes transparent to all suppliers. These stages must be followed for transparency and fairness. Just like in stage 3: buyer send out the ITT to potential suppliers at the same time and providing them same information. Failure to this and bidders who feel disadvantaged or discriminated in any form may submit a legal challenge. Supplier submitting a Legal challenge may cause delay in the process and eventually increase administrative cost for the buyer.

Condition performance monitoring is a surveillance system that is designed to get the maximum production uptime and availability out of an asset. And this can be achieved by timely monitoring and measuring of temperature, vibration, output, speed, noise, emissions and quality. With this, decision has to be made as to what, if any, action needs to be taken. The five approaches to condition performance monitoring are as follows:

1. Do nothing: Use like a commodity. This will bring worries later.

2. Reactive: Fix it when it breaks. This will run to failure.

3. Preventive: Scheduled maintenance.

4. Predictive: Fix it before it breaks. Predict faults.

5. Proactive: Continuous improvement defect elimination.

The most cost-effective approach is ‘Proactive’, because is the only approach that has continuous improvement in the process, people and policies to minimize downtime. Being proactive takes defect out of the system and continuously harness opportunity that will optimize the system

A new buy is the purchase of goods and services by an organization or an individual for its first time. For example a transport organization for the very first time contracting the purchase of a Lorry out to an external supplier. In situations like this, it is advisable to start the procurement cycle from the very first stage. Which is understanding the need and developing high level specification.

Modified re-buy is the purchase of goods or services that an organization has bought before there was a need but with changes to the specification or supplier or quantity or quality. In carrying out modified re-buy, procurement professional should start from the very first stage of the procurement cycle to justify the added need and follow through. Not in all cases that buyer would have to start from understanding the need. In a situation where the changes required is a change of supplier, the organization will start from its preferred suppliers list and contract the next ranking supplier as the case may be.

Quality is fitness for purpose. It is important that quality is investigated by procurement professionals before forming relationship with potential supplies.

If quality is not investigated before selecting supplier the organization might stand the risk of facing the following disadvantages;

Reputational Damages

Cost of Rework

Cost of Downtime

Cost of Material

Cost of being stocked with the wrong supplier

Cost of being stocked in a project that may not come to an end at the forecasted time.

How buyer can choose a supplier with a good quality culture is first by defining the quality of the product or services to be carried out .Having knowledge of the product or service quality, supplies can rightly select and evaluated supplier with total quality management (TQM) in their system, ISO 9001 accreditation. TQM includes everyone in the organization with knowledge on the required quality; there would be little or no rejection/reworks. Thus is an added value to the organization.

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Fraud occurs when a person acts deliberately to secure monies from another party through dishonest method. Within the supply chain of an organization, fraud can represent itself in the following ways:

1. Kickbacks: e.g. (commission given to a bribe taker for service perform)

2. Corrupt influence (e.g ordering more than what is required)

3. Collusion: (group of suppliers working together to submit multiple bids and split profit.

4. Bid Rigging (a contract is informally agreed with a chosen supplier prior to the official process

5. invoicing fraud

6. Substitution (submitting products that are below the required quality

7. False claims (files false document)

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A cross-function Team is the involvement of all departments that are in an organization to contribute knowledge, skills and innovation towards adding value to achieving the organization’s strategic goal. Example, procurement, maintenance, marketing, finance, human resources working together in procurement activity to come up with the best strategy or selecting the supplier that best suit the organization.

When working in a cross-functional team, members of the organization give support by believing in the end goal, assist during difficult time, help troubleshoot any issue, providing the required resources and sharing information

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Terms are the right and duties agreed which are then documented in a contract. Five types of con-tract terms that a procurement professional should create with a supplier when forming an agree-ment includes;

Price term is when the buying organization wants to protect its budged and spending, it include price terms in the contract, for the buyer to buy goods or services in response to a need they some-time enshrine a bespoke specification in the contract.

Payment Term is to specify when and how the buyer will pay the supplier. The buyer may include a payment term in the contract.

Warrantee is when the buyer requires a promise from the supplier that the product or service will meet the specified need in the contract.

Time is of the essence term is included in the contract to detail when a product or service should be delivered and explains the potential losses of business if time is not observed.

Continuous improvement relates to removing waste from the supply chain and improving processes to increase efficiency within whole life asset management in a full power project (a flour producing firm) can benefit from continuous improvement in the following ways;

1) Reduce cost of spears by recondition parts, instead of disposing them out rightly.

2) Can reduce down time by conducting routine maintenance after hours.

3) Can reducing accident by up skilling operators on safety

4) Can reduce waste oil by following owner’s manual instead of relying on experience.

5) Create efficiencies by operating a 24/7 shift pattern.

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The abuse of power within the supply chain can be linked to corruption. If individuals with seniority favor one supplier over another, they can exercise their power to award the contract to whoever they wish. According to CIPS code of conduct, this is not acceptable.

According to French and Raven, there are five types of power (Legitimate power, Reward, Expert, Referent and Coercive), and these powers can most likely be used in corruption.

A cross-function Team is the involvement of all departments that are in an organization to contribute knowledge, skills and innovation towards adding value to achieving the organization’s strategic goal. Example, procurement, maintenance, marketing, finance, human resources working together in procurement activity to come up with the best strategy or selecting the supplier that best suit the organization.

When working in a cross-functional team, members of the organization give support by believing in the end goal, assist during difficult time, help troubleshoot any issue, providing the required resources and sharing information

A sector is an area of an industry, e.g., private, public or third sector.

A public sector is a sector of the economy that is owned, finance and run by the government. This sector is financed with tax payer’s money. And therefore owe the general public an ethical explanation towards all investment and decision.

Once the supplier that is awarded the contract has accepted, the buyer can tell the unsuccessful bidders. This usually happens through email or letter. The public sector is more likely to give feedback to unsuccessful bidders and also have to respond to any stakeholders that request information on why a supplier is not successful.

The Kraljic Portfolio Matrix shows where a product or services fits into in an organization. It is based on two areas 1) the risk of supply (Risk Impact). 2) Effect it has on profit (cost impact).

It would be rare to find a supplier who does not emit any form of pollution. However, part of ethical and responsible sourcing is to make effort to reduce impact of population on the planets. Pollution can be factory emission, Noise, smell, Transportation Development, waste disposal. Transportation is a major cause of pollution. The carbon dioxide emitted from vehicles contributes greatly to air contamination. Yet it is better to use sea freight rather than air because it has a smaller impact on the environment.

Influencing is the capacity to be able to change behavior or opinions, either consciously or subconsciously.

As outlined by Yukl and falbets work from 1990 influencing can relate to corruption within procurement in these six ways.

1)A party can be assertive (forceful, directive, using deadlines),

2) Ingratiating i.e. using charm and flattery.

3) Exchange-Trading favors,

4) Upward appeal (requesting input for senior management not only that influencing can come as

5) Coalition; team members uniting for support.

5) Rational persuasion, i.e. bringing in logic and facts for clarification

A sector is an area of an industry, e.g., private, public or third sector.

A public sector is a sector of the economy that is owned, finance and run by the government. This sector is financed with tax payer’s money. And therefore owe the general public an ethical explanation towards all investment and decision.

Once the supplier that is awarded the contract has accepted, the buyer can tell the unsuccessful bidders. This usually happens through email or letter. The public sector is more likely to give feedback to unsuccessful bidders and also have to respond to any stakeholders that request information on why a supplier is not successful.

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At the early stages In procurement and supply cycle, buyers begin segmenting current supplies in the categories, depending on their level of integration into the organization. To help get this done, the buyer may use the Kraljic portfolio matrix. The kraljic portfolio matrix segment suppliers into four categories, which are;

1) Routine 2) Bottleneck 3) Leverage 4)strategic supplier

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Tuckman’s team development model depicts from where a team is formed to the various stages they might experience before the end where the objective is achieved and these includes.

1) Forming: here they are just being put together

2) Storming: conflict and competition begin to arise

3) Norming: here agreement and consensus is reached as roles and responsibility is clear.

4) Perform: They start carrying out the roles and responsibility

5) Adjourning: Task is complete and they are discharged

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

RESPONSE

A purchase requisition should contain the following information

1) Date of the requisition

2) Description of what is required

3) Supplier if known

4) The quantity

5) when the need is required

6) why the need is required

7) who identified the need

8) who approved the need

9) if it’s a re-buy

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

Carter’s 10cs is a detailed mechanism that procurement professional uses to evaluate potential supplier. What the procurement professional should consider in supplier are the following 10 things.

1) Competency 2) capacity 3) Cost 4) Cash 5) Clean 6) Consistency 7) Control 8) Culture 9) Com-mitment 10) Communication.

Though strong due diligence procurement professionals can assess which suppliers or potential suppliers appear to meet the criteria associated with ethical practice.

Prior to the contract being awarded, strong due diligence can save the organization from the following cost:

1) Cost of reputation

2) Environmental damage

3) Stakeholders dissatisfaction,

4) poor quality and rework

5) Breach of contract

6) Ethical concerns

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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Go back to the question column and study the Questions and response

A business case is a document containing the justification and the commercial benefits achievable for a potential project or an identified need, for example, the purchase of a capital equipment, con-struction of an additional warehouse or procuring more innovative software to replace the current on in use.

The essence of the business case is to obtain support and get buy-in from senior management.

In order to gain authority to apply whole life asset management a business case will need to be created and presented. A developed business case will cover the following element.

1) Introduction: Outline of what the business case is all about

2) Objective: Explanation of what the business case desired outcome is.

3) Approach that will be undertaken

4) List of resources required

5) Benefits of achieving the objective

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Refer to the question column for response

3. Explain the elements that Lucie should include in her analysis based on whole-life asset management. (25 marks)

Whole-life asset management means evaluating the total cost and value of an asset over its full life , not just the initial purchase price. CIPS explains this as whole-life costing / total cost of ownership , covering acquisition, usage and end-of-life costs. ISO 55000 also states that asset management should consider assets over their life cycles to realise value for the organisation.

In Water Works’ case, Lucie should include the following elements in her analysis of purchasing the 200 vehicles.

1. Initial acquisition costs

Lucie should first calculate the purchase price of the vehicles. This includes not only the price of each vehicle, but also delivery charges, registration, taxes, any fit-out requirements, signage, tracking systems and initial insurance. This is important because the capital cost will be high for a fleet of 200 vehicles, so the business case must show the full upfront investment rather than just the list price. CIPS notes that whole-life costing includes purchase price and acquisition cost .

2. Operating and running costs

A major element is the cost of operating the vehicles during their working life. Lucie should estimate fuel or energy costs, servicing, maintenance, repairs, tyres, road tax and insurance. This is especially relevant because the case states that some current vehicles are several years old and running costs are increasing . Therefore, Lucie should compare the likely running costs of new vehicles with the current hired fleet to show whether ownership offers better long-term value. CIPS identifies usage cost as a core part of total cost of ownership.

3. Reliability and performance

Lucie should assess how reliable the vehicles are expected to be over time. The case already mentions several breakdowns causing operational issues on Water Works sites. Therefore, her analysis should include the likely cost of breakdowns, lost productivity, missed site visits, delays to operations and possible emergency replacement vehicles. This is important because a cheaper vehicle may not represent best value if it is unreliable and disrupts service delivery. Whole-life asset management is about the value delivered over the asset life, not only cost. ISO guidance emphasises value, risk and outcomes across the lifecycle.

4. Maintenance strategy and support arrangements

Lucie should include how the vehicles will be maintained once purchased. For example, she should assess whether servicing will be outsourced, managed through manufacturer warranties, or supported by local garages across the ten regional offices. She should also consider the availability of spare parts and support response times. This matters because purchasing the fleet transfers more responsibility for asset upkeep to Water Works compared with hiring.

5. Asset life and replacement cycle

Another important element is the expected useful life of the vehicles. Lucie should estimate how long the vehicles will remain economically and operationally effective before replacement is needed. This should include mileage, intensity of use, operating conditions and likely deterioration. Since Water Works operates across ten regional offices, some vehicles may experience heavier use than others. A whole-life analysis should therefore include assumptions on replacement timing and fleet renewal planning.

6. Residual value and disposal value

Lucie should include the likely residual value of the vehicles at the end of their useful life. If Water Works owns the vehicles, they may be sold, traded in or auctioned. This means the organisation may recover some value at the end of the asset life. She should also include any disposal costs, such as decommissioning, collection, administration or environmentally compliant disposal. CIPS notes that whole-life costing includes end-of-life cost .

7. Financing and cost of capital

Although capital funds are available, Lucie should still consider the financial impact of tying up funds in vehicle ownership. The analysis should show whether using capital for vehicles represents best value compared with other strategic uses of funds. She may also include depreciation and the effect on budgets over time. This is important because purchasing assets creates a different financial commitment from hiring them.

8. Specification and fitness for purpose

Lucie should review whether the chosen vehicles meet operational needs. This includes vehicle size, load capacity, durability, fuel efficiency, suitability for site conditions and any specialist requirements for water service operations. A whole-life approach requires the asset to be fit for purpose, because a poor specification can increase maintenance costs and reduce operational value later in the lifecycle.

9. Risk analysis

Lucie should include risks associated with ownership. These may include unexpected repair costs, changes in fuel prices, asset obsolescence, poor resale values, non-availability of parts and the risk that operational needs change during the asset life. She should compare these ownership risks with the risks under hiring arrangements. ISO 55000 highlights that asset management should consider risks and opportunities throughout the lifecycle .

10. Sustainability and regulatory factors

As a regulated public authority, Water Works should also consider environmental and regulatory issues. Lucie’s analysis should include emissions, fuel efficiency, possible transition to lower-emission vehicles, compliance requirements and disposal obligations. This is relevant because public sector organisations are expected to consider long-term environmental impact as well as cost.

11. Whole-life comparison against hiring

Finally, Lucie should compare the total whole-life cost of buying against the alternatives of extending the current hire contract or re-tendering for hired vehicles . This comparison should include all acquisition, usage, maintenance and end-of-life costs, as well as service reliability and operational value. CIPS describes whole-life costing as an end-to-end cost estimate to support procurement decisions.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Lucie’s whole-life asset management analysis should not focus only on the purchase price of the vehicles. It should include acquisition costs, operating costs, maintenance, reliability, useful life, replacement cycle, residual value, disposal costs, finance implications, specification, risk and sustainability considerations . By analysing all these elements, Lucie can show whether purchasing the fleet gives Water Works better long-term value than continuing to hire vehicles. This is the main purpose of whole-life asset management.

ILO stands for International Labour Organization- It is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance justice and promote decent work by setting international labor standard.

ETI is Ethical Trading Initiative: It is a leading alliance of companies, trade unions and NGOs that promote respect for workers right around the globe. Its vision is a world where all workers are free from exploitation and discrimination and enjoys condition of freedom, security and equity.