Procurement and cost reduction in UK central government

PAC report has relevance to public and private sector procurement.

The Public Accounts Committee (“PAC”) published its report last week, ” Cost reduction in central government: summary of progress“. The report may be of interest to procurement stakeholders in both public and private sectors :

  • Procurement is critical to achievement of deficit reduction and provision of (maintained) frontline services.
  • The report contains messages that apply to any organisation seeking to make savings through procurement initiatives.
  • The PAC  makes observations and recommendations regarding the approach to achievement and measurement of savings. Continue reading

How to Determine Purchasing Organisation: Purchasing Activity Analysis

Judging by the limited references in the literature on purchasing practice and purchasing organisation, it would seem that purchasing activity analysis is a much underrated tool.

Why is activity analysis an important tool in determining purchasing organisation and establishing good practice? Continue reading

How to Determine Procurement Organisation – Part 3: The 5 Dimensions in Detail

This is the third in a series of articles which examine the internal and external factors which, when taken into consideration, will indicate the preferred model for procurement within a business. Continue reading

How to Determine Procurement Organisation – Part 2: 5 Dimensions to be Considered

This is the second in a series of articles which examine the internal and external factors which, when taken into consideration, will indicate the preferred model for procurement within a business. Continue reading

How to Determine Procurement Organisation – Part 1: 10 Objectives for Procurement

A discussion has been running in the Procurement Professionals Group on LinkedIn to explore why do centralised procurement initiatives often promise substantial savings, then fail to deliver to the bottom line? Apart from historically falling short of expectations, we are facing new issues such as increasing emphasis on corporate social responsibility and sustainability. The discussion prompted me to write a short article setting out 5 models for procurement organisation and start another discussion, Continue reading

5 Models for procurement organisation

A discussion has been running in the Procurement Professionals Group on LinkedIn to explore the reasons why centralised procurement initiatives often promise substantial savings, then fail to deliver to the bottom line. Various contributors have expressed different interpretations of “centralised procurement” which has prompted me to write a short article setting out the five models for procurement organisation. Continue reading

3 Dimensions of Organisational Capability and Performance

Why Procurement and other organisations’ performance may be missing the mark.

This week I was alerted by Dutch procurement consultant, Robbert den Braber, to a blog by technology sourcing expert, Dr Michael Lamoureux – a critique of an article by Accenture senior manager Kamendran Govender entitled “Command and Supply” about procurement practice to achieve superior supply chain performance.

Another article by freelance writer Stephanie Overby, “Is There a Lack of Innovation From Outsourcers?” reviewed the findings of a 2011 Forrester Research Survey, where 41% of outsourcing clients cited lack of innovation as the biggest challenge with their existing IT services relationships, and quoted Forrester analyst, Jan Erik Aase, “I believe my findings apply to any vendor relationship.”

The articles resonated with my recent blogs “How to Start a Strategic Value-Added Programme” and “How to select suppliers to create value” where I focused on assessing supplier’s capability to collaborate and innovate, to help us optimize existing products/services, and to achieve our desired business outcomes.

Now I aim to stimulate readers to think about why procurement (and other) organisations’  performance may be missing the mark. Continue reading