As part of the CIPS Certification process, we review the processes within your organisation and provide a report which identifies what we have seen that we believe is really good, what we saw that we thought didn’t quite hit the mark and, just as importantly, any things that we didn’t see being addressed. This report helps highlight any gaps and can be used to help you work through how you might close them.

Depending on the gaps – some may be easy to fix and others may take more time – you’ll be able to work out an action plan of how you want to tackle them.

Depending on where you are in the world then the cost of CIPS Certification may differ. Where the requirement is based in the UK then the cost is £23,500 ex VAT.

If you’d like to know more about CIPS Certification, please visit www.cips.org/certification.

We have recently launched CIPS Intelligence, this has many procedures and templates within it as well as stacks of information.

Information on SLA (service level agreements)

It is possible that your manager has done his sums and can prove that total cost of ownership over a period of, say 5 years, across the range justifies a one-stop shop but you would be justified in asking him to share those figures with you.

Perhaps a “periodic benchmarking” approach was used to ensure the preferred supplier is at the same price as, or better than, competitors for requirements.

If periodic benchmarking has not been used you have the right to ask the IT manager to work with you on a strategy to check the market place for what he/she perceives will be the order of magnitude IT requirements and likely spend over say a 5 year period. You should obtain comparative costs from this preferred supplier and 2 or 3 alternative suppliers to establish whether there are cost avoidance savings to be made which outweigh the “single supplier” / one-stop shop benefits – savings which you could jointly present to the Board as proof of good collaboration.

The trick, I think, is to work up a strategy around a combination of market potential and the softer issues around the advantages/ disadvantages of a one-stop shop, take your suggestions to the IT Manager seeking his endorsement or his suggested changes. Then use that as your joint approach to testing the market. You need to be seen to be leading positively in finding the best solution which takes in legitimate requirements the IT Manager may have and not just being a proponent of lower prices.

You are carrying out an RFI (request for information) and this process would provide selection and award criteria and ask a number of specific questions that would enable you to determine if the Companies can provide the product or services you are seeking. From that you would short list the number of Companies remaining and send out the RFP (request for proposal)

This would be a logical and methodical approach to your tender. You should request the return of all submissions to be the same date.

The financial analysis should be carried out at the tender stage to ensure the suppliers are financially stable and in a position to be able to support your business without a strain on finance or the operational running of the Company, as in relevant teams to manage and develop the account.

Once the RFP is complete and short list is compiled I would then compare the overall merits of each Business and award based on the initial selection criteria, skill set and ability to work with your Company. Should the initial supplier not meet all needs to complete the tender process then I would go back to the 2nd supplier assuming they also meet your criteria. I do not see this as unfair as long as the strict process is used for overall process and evaluation.

Not knowing the specific business or set up of the business my response needs to be rather general. There are a number of key steps I would suggest in this requirement.

Background research include key markets, current purchasing patterns, spend analysis and current vendor base.

Building an understanding of where the team are best situated and what the outcome should look like. For example what does that global team need to consist of, how will it function and deliver on the global objectives and measures in place.

Moving to the process of vendor rationalization and creating for example, an electronic PQQ to invite existing and potential vendors to attend. Creating and communicating your global requirements along with clarity of the process, schedule and form evaluation and scoring to be used. Following your PQQ with an formal ITT/RFP stage.

Often not enough time is spent on the where are we now stage of the process - your existing vendors have a lot of information that can help the process.

For more information on pre-qualification and tender process or, platforms refer to CIPS Intelligence, has some useful documents.

You do not say whether the value of the replacement contract takes you above the EU Procurement limits (currently £113,057 if you are in Central Government or £173,934 if you are in other parts of the Public Sector), for the life of the contract.

If the cost is below those limits, you are bound to comply with your organisation’s Standing Financial Orders and Instructions for tenders and the Government’s Transparency Agenda by publishing details of contract opportunities above £10,000 on the Contracts Finder database. I shall assume the value is above the EU limits.

You also do not say whether this is for goods or a service? I shall assume the latter in this response but the same principles will apply to goods.

From what you say about the contract, you are not entitled simply to extend again, whether by “negotiation” (not strictly permitted) or by simple extension. You need to go through an appropriate EU tendering exercise. Failure to do so would run the risk of challenge from other interested suppliers and from External or Internal Auditors as well as, most importantly, being contrary to getting best value for money for the Tax Payer from a market which is different from the one which applied when the initial contract was let.

If you do not have enough time left before the current extension expires to conduct a tender and award a contract, how serious would be the lack of the service for the time it takes to go through the tender/award cycle? If it is not serious, best to get on with it even if that would mean a gap in the service. But that possibly begs questions as to why it needs to be replaced at all. Could it be a savings candidate?

Assuming the service is essential and you do not have time to go through the procurement cycle without incurring a service gap, you may after all have to seek an extension to the contract but this time a “qualified” extension in the context of a documented procurement strategy to replace the contract. That should be enough to satisfy the main likely objectors - those External or Internal Auditors or other contractors who want the chance to deliver the service.

Beware of extending for another year, only to find it is unnecessarily long (wasteful) or too short (embarrassing, time consuming and weak to have to extend again). The Procurement Strategy needs to be realistic.

By the way, if you did not have an exit strategy in the original contract and you need information from the current contract to be available to help a new contractor hit the ground running, that would be the opportunity to “negotiate” that with the current contractor. But negotiating that is another topic all together.

One final though: how unique is your service? Are there in existence Framework Contracts let by other parts of the Public Sector to which you could have access? Or are other parts of the Public Sector obtaining these services from some Buying Consortium? They could meet your needs, possibly at a better price through leverage of larger volume purchasing or at least without a gap in service? Have a look at the (former) OGC/Buying Services web page and do an Internet search for Buying Consortia for contacts to check. You may even find other parts of the Public Sector local to you have the same service.  Ask a few suppliers if there is no other way of finding out

Well firstly, it may depend on the size of an organisation – smaller SME’s may do just this due to size.  FD’s can still put into place many of the procurement disciplines, or indeed study to CIPS so that they follow the correct processes and ensure best practice.  The Finance Department is an area that must be fully transparent and an area where controls and measures must be in place anyway.  Where it is possible to have a procurement team or department it is an big advantage if these two areas work well together reviewing the areas of spend and identifying areas where savings or improvements can be made for the organisation.