What a fantastic opportunity: being a Decision Maker for a Day. Given this is for fun, let me stretch the bounds of realism a bit, say the day has as many hours as I need, and for practicality, there are no diary clashes so business stakeholders are available at the drop of a hat!
What would I do, other than just savour the moment?
First, I’d do full blown due diligence on the suppliers we should approach. Beyond just desktop research, beyond the “usual” such as incumbents, suppliers known to key stakeholders, you know the ones. (Normally, there might be slight panic as we don’t have the time for this or the stakeholders are uncomfortable with change). Deep dive, meet them with my business stakeholders, understand how they work, see if they’re interested. Create a robust short-list where each has the same opportunity to win.
Second, get all the stakeholders (and I mean all) in a room to brain dump their requirements. Make sure the end users are there, get IT involved, have Legal present, rope in the compliance teams, the lot. Test and challenge every point – what is being sought and why? Understand the jargon, document their view of supplier selection and make sure all the points are covered from every angle. For example, for an existing contract or relationship, understand what currently works well or what they might want to change and why. Get the document flow right and make it consistent in approach and requirements rather than being disjointed with multiple authors contributing.
Document the budget and agree realistic timescales with the business for the whole process (wouldn’t that be lovely!). This includes supplier deadlines, tender submission reviews, clarification sessions, meeting the supplier delivery team (not the just the bid team), final negotiations and contract completions. Get attendance fixed in diaries. Agree who is best to be the front face for all communications with the supplier throughout the process and the methods they’ll use. Then get full approval and sign-off on a brilliant tender document almost ready to go out to market.
Before it is issued, I’d re-engage with the supplier list about the RFP, gauging appetite for our scope and potentially checking some points of clarification. Just to make sure there are no surprises.
On reflection, maybe my day isn’t about decision making per-se but about getting stakeholders to spend time together to understand what they are buying and each part of the tender jigsaw. Procurement may often be the front face of the client but there are many pieces we rely on to make this work.
Beth Wallace
Beth has worked in a number of sectors, starting out in aerospace manufacturing but also working in financial services, media, hospitality and legal to name a few. Her career has spanned both negotiating deals as well as managing supplier relationships, from simple projects to complex outsourcing.
