Let’s tackle the procurement process…
The procurement process. A time to sit, think about what you’re doing, and follow some easy steps to complete it on time. If only it were this easy!
Understanding the finer details
A professional procurement process can be incredibly beneficial if you’re looking to streamline your purchasing system. It can ensure that you pay the best price for the goods or services you require. Therefore, saving your business valuable time by choosing the most reputable vendors, and minimise order delays and mistakes.
That being said, there is no one-size-fits-all procurement process. Some businesses require a formal process to suit their complex environment, which is often the case in government or education. In those industries, vendors must comply with strict guidelines.
Others, like enterprise businesses, require a few key steps in an effort to manage budgets more effectively. In any case, the following is representative of a typical procurement cycle from the perspective of the purchaser.
The procurement process: How could it benefit YOUR business?
The procurement process streamlines workloads.
If you require an ongoing service, then you need to ensure that you are getting the best possible supplier. It would be a poor use of staffing resources to dedicate personnel to researching and contacting potential businesses. This could take an inordinate amount of time and still not result in finding a supplier that meets your requirements.
Tackle the procurement process with ease with our step-by-step guide below:
Step 1: Recognise your needs!
Your business must know at least the basis of your requirements if you’re putting it out to tender. Understand the work you want to tender for and make sure you understand what you need from the work. Do this by releasing a soft-test market exercise and engage with suppliers that way initially. This will help you develop your specifications!
Step 2: Specific Requirements
What do you specifically need to source by tendering for work? Some industries have standards to help determine specifications. If you’ve tendered for work in the past and you followed a certain process, then perhaps you’ll replicate it again. If not, then your first-time tendering for work needs to be the time you really focus on your requirements. You can also engage with external expertise or ask your current providers.
Step 3: Creating tender documents
Creating an ITT can often be really difficult, and it’s important that the documents are clear and cohesive.
Make sure you’ve thought out what you want to say. Write down everything the supplier needs to have or do. By doing this, you can ensure that only qualified suppliers are bidding for your project.
Step 4: Define your budget
Make sure you’ve set an achievable budget for suppliers to aim for. Make sure the budget is zoned in, don’t leave a big gap, for example, between £2,000 and £10,000. Suppliers may always aim for the higher amounts, so make sure what you put down, you can afford.
Step 5: Posting your opportunity
You can register on different portals to post your opportunity. This means it will be seen by hundreds of people from different industries.
With our sister business, Hudson Discover, you can post your opportunity for FREE! Through our Procure Post service, choose from 11 sector-specific tendering portals, create an account and upload your project. It’s that simple!
Step 6: Assessing the applicants
To assess your applicants, make sure you’ve got the tender documents in front of you. See how these suppliers match what you’ve asked for. Shortlist the top three, then ensure you pick the one that will benefit your business best!
In summary
So, now you have a step-by-step guide to the procurement process. Firstly, you need to identify a business need. Then, you can develop your requirements and produce the tender documents. Once this is done, you can define your budget.
The next stage is to post your opportunity on a tendering portal. Remember, you can do this through our service, Procure Post! The final stage of the procurement process is to assess the applications and find a supplier for your project.
How can Hudson Procure help your business?
At Hudson Procure, our procurement experts have nearly two decades of experience. No matter what kind of support you’re looking for, we can help.
Procure Consult
With Procure Consult, we offer support with tender management and ad-hoc procurement consultancy. Our expert team will manage the end-to-end procurement process or offer assistance with any stage, as and when required.
Procure Health Check
With Procure Health Check, we’ll conduct a full review of the strategic and operational procurement processes within your organisation. We’ll identify the areas that need improvement and help you drive greater value from the procurement process.
Procure Analyse
The purpose of Procure Analyse is to conduct a high-level analysis of your spending activity. We’ll help you understand your current purchasing behaviour and highlight areas that can deliver greater value. Procure Analyse is also offered as part of Procure Health Check or as a standalone service.
Procure Outsourcing
With Procure Outsourcing, we deliver a range of procurement solutions on an outsourced basis, completely bespoke to you. This can range from delivering multiple tender projects as a package to delivering the full procurement function of your organisation.
Procure Post
Are you trying to find a supplier for your project? Post your tendering opportunity onto any of our 11 sector-specific portals for FREE with Procure Post!
Housed by our sister company, Hudson Discover, our portals host thousands of tendering opportunities for organisations of all sizes. We’ll help you identify your requirements and find the most suitable suppliers for your business.
Get in touch for a consultation and find out how we can help your business grow.
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