How do you develop and implement a procurement policy and procedure that is clear and consistent?

In order to get buy in, it is imperative to get feedback and then channel all methods of learning. You can put together a lengthy manual and guarantee no one will read it. You can put together flow charts and you may capture 50% of the population, creating workshops will capture another 25%, video tutorials may capture another 15%. No one has the time to read it all. Long and short....keep it simple and ensure you have constant communication with your stakeholders

In my experience, developing a procurement policy requires a deep dive into organization's needs. It's crucial to precisely define goals, specifications, & budget constraints. Crafting transparent procedures for vendor selection, bidding, & evaluation is key. Aligning the policy with regulations & industry best practices adds authenticity. Clear communication with stakeholders is essential for a shared understanding. Regular reviews & adaptations keep the policy responsive to evolving requirements, enhancing efficiency. Personally, I believe fostering a culture of continuous improvement through regular training & feedback loops authentically embeds clarity & consistency in procurement practices. #LeadershipExcellence #SupplyChainManagement

Any policy should be on one page. This should clearly reflect how it will support the organizations mission, and then outline why you need to buy things and how you want to buy them. Taking into account ethical sourcing, competitiveness from the market, etc. Once the policy is described, you can then write your standards and procedures that explain how you will meet the needs of the policy.

My views - -The policy has to align to the overall company vision -Talk to the stakeholders -Document as much as possible - Both general scenarios and exceptions - There should be a owner for the documents and only that person should change anything if needed -Be Open for Feedback - Regular review and updates - Communicate and circulate the documents and updates - Regular Training is also needed - Regular audits to check if the compliance is followed

The wording in “Access your Needs” seems to indicate a static result, but procurement should be guided by dynamic behavior as well as differentiation Why dynamic? Procurement is a relative action, because it is both, a systematic activity within a dynamic sales process. Recognize “what is static”, as e.g. the use of means/IT systems, versus “the dynamic of the sales/forecast, together leading to effective procurement What is differentiation? Categorizing a procurement item in an IT system, allows for following different procurement processes. When considering process and IT systems, one has always to be reminded : Procurement is a consequence of either FORECAST resp. SALES, both directly effect the bottom line of the organization

Avoid building Procurement Policy longer than 2 pages reflecting principles of work. A good policy should be measured on its simplicity to understand and the reflection of key principles, responsibilities, thresholds of application,, in vs out scope and any rules for delegations and an outline of escalation & governance rules. Everything else , including lists of exempted items and key contacts are best kept in separate attachments giving flexibility for amendments.

Your Procurement policy needs to achieve 4 things: - Define your company's procurement terms (definitions) - Define your policy’s scope (process: what’s in, what’s out, What other existing policies are considered/referenced?) - Define the roles and responsibilities in Procurement processes - Define the guiding principles for the processes in scope IMO, to do this well, you probably need 10-20 pages. Otherwise, correctly documenting what needs to be documented is a challenge. That's not to say you can't create a 1-pager for the most important principles that will suffice for 80-90% of end users. However, if you oversimplify your procurement policy, the 10-20% of advanced users that need this detail won't have it and operations will suffer

When developing a Procurement Policy and Procedure, the Legal Division should be heavily involved. There are multiple touchpoints where working together will drive efficiencies in both Divisions. Make sure the Policy reflects your overall Contracting Strategy - if you don’t have a written Contracting Strategy, now is also the time to put this document in place.

Policies and procedures are not simply guardrails; when created correctly, they also serve as guides. Policies are the why and procedures are the how. Standards and templates are the what. Recognize that not all users are power users of the procurement process. Understand that albeit lower in hierarchy (policy-procedures-standards-templates) there is a place for sharing best practices via standards and templates. Examples can help users get the desired end results more quickly, efficiently and in line with the policies and procedures.

Procurement policy should be clear, concise, easy to understand and in line with organization culture and goals. It should not be a user manual. At the same time it should cover the ethos of the organisation at large and should not keep anything in grey.

Procurement policy shall be meeting needs of the business, attract qualified suppliers, encourage excellence and innovation, be agile to meet changing priorities. Communicating principles and priorities to the market players shall be a must, with feedback loop to check if assumptions underlying chosen procedures are right

One thing I have found helpful is the ability to anchored in wisdom of the heart and utilize a high degree of emotional intelligence to effectively communicate the benefits that align with purpose that shows relevance to the collective good of all. Risks are often a concern and being able to communicate effectively to how it elevates a concern for them may lead to them feeling heard and sharing in the buy in for impact. Cognitive empathy has shown to increase margins due to utilizing logic and emotion to gain buy in.

Consulting stakeholders is really important. In my contribution about "Assess your needs" I emphasized the importance of considering, since the first phases, the procurement own needs but also the relations with other functions of the company. Beside that, it's really important to consult the stakeholders on the first drafts of the procedure, because their feedback gives the confirmation (or suggested adjustments) to the procedure. This is necessary also as "relationship management" among functions, because this lets the stakeholders feel the attention, consideration and involvement by the procurement. This is also important because it "opens the doors" and they feel somehow theirs what is written in the procedure.

But there should always be timeline attached to this stakeholder's consultation. Further, this exercise should be pointed and not a time wasting exercise. It is seen that most of the people don't participate effectively. They rather take an easy path by either going with the flow or saying all good. This attitude is detrimental to the very cause of stakeholder's consultation and should be thoroughly avoided.

Always remember- this is a two-way street. A procurement policy generally commits your organisation and each internal stakeholder involved to meet specific objectives (aligned to good practice and organisational objectives). Hence, stakeholder education, compliance monitoring, and your team being accessible to them, are all important components for success. Also, identify, minimise, manage and report to stakeholders, any notable risks within the supply chain; such as supply risk, demand risks, process risks, control risks, and ESG risks.

Less is more. If it's longer than 1 page, then it's too long. You can link to the finer details elsewhere. Better to have 90% of employees who broadly comply and understand it than to have a super detailed policy that nobody bothers to read and mostly gets ignored. Real talk: People are busy. They're not going to read through 20 pages of technocratic jargon. You should communicate like a marketer, not a lawyer or internal auditor. If in doubt, contact your marketing or internal comms colleagues, or hire a copywriter so as your text is engaging and easy to follow. Use videos and infographics to explain the details. Keep them short, engaging and informative.

When rolling out our new policy I worked with someone from our Comms team to work out the best way to get the message to 60000 employees

It will be good if your policy can remain a ‘live document’ to a limited extent where possible. I definitely don’t advocate a fluid document. Consider assigning one team member to maintain and refresh the policy and procedures and to maintain version control. Once implemented, ongoing stakeholder training and development, compliance monitoring, and stakeholders' access to the procurement team will strengthen implementation and integration success.

Consulting with your stakeholders is a crucial step in the development of your procurement policy and procedure. Your stakeholders, including management, staff, suppliers, customers, regulators, and others, can provide valuable insights and feedback to ensure that the policy aligns with their needs and expectations. By communicating the purpose and benefits of the policy and addressing any concerns, you can create a more inclusive and well-informed approach to procurement that garners support and cooperation from all relevant parties. This collaboration helps in refining and finalizing the policy and procedure to make them realistic and effective.

As Director of Procurement, I have used the following Plan to implement the Clear and Consistent Procurement Policy and Procedures: 1. Establish a detailed schedule that includes start and end dates for each stage of the implementation plan. 2. Allocate the necessary resources, including personnel, technology, and budget, to carry out the implementation plan effectively. 3. Provide appropriate training on the new policy and procedures to all personnel involved in the hiring process. 4. Implement a communication plan that includes dissemination of the new policy and procedures to all interested parties. 5. Establish oversight mechanisms to monitor the progress of the application and address any issues or challenges that may arise.

The first version of your Procurement policy won't be adapted to the realities of all parts of your business. You need to have mechanisms in place to collect and incorporate feedback into new versions of the policy. Without regular updates, your Procurement policy will quickly become outdated and be viewed as irrelevant red tape instead of a document that helps maximize value for the business.

Apart from compliance with good practice, proper probity and strategic objectives, consider that your policy can also assist in obtaining cost savings (procure at optimum value and assist in creating better visibility into the organisations expenditure); efficiencies (meeting standards and quality objectives with lowest possible involvement of team and stakeholder resources); and innovation (correctly positioned, the policy can create an environment for the market to bring you across latest innovation).

The key factor to ensure that your procurement policies are aligned with organisation goals is to assess, review and upgrade your Procurement Manual periodically after 2-3 years of timeframe. While upgrading the manual, one should include every stakeholders/users of that procurement manual. Which helps to compile the challenges faced since the last upgrade with the suggestions to make the procurement process smoother. It's also important to incorporate the changes in ministry guidelines (i.e.MSME relaxations), GFR changes, FIDIC upgradation, etc. The aim is to align the Manual as per the best industry policies/practices. Also, it should be ensured that each n every procurement transaction strictly follows the guidelines of the manual.

Evaluating and improving your procurement policy and procedure is an ongoing process. It's essential to periodically assess how well these documents are working and whether they are achieving their intended objectives. To do this, gather data and feedback from various sources, including reports, audits, surveys, and reviews. Analyze this information to identify both strengths and weaknesses in your procurement processes. Additionally, consider changes in your organization's needs, goals, the external environment, or regulatory requirements that may impact your procurement policy. Based on your evaluation, make necessary adjustments and refinements to ensure your policy and procedure remain effective and relevant.

Within the systems, it is essential to establish an intelligence mechanism for assessing our competitors' performance and our own. This approach can effectively pinpoint areas within our policy and procedure that require enhancement. Another vital stakeholder in this process is the internal audit function. They play crucial role in adopting a proactive stance by identifying critical risks, compliance gaps, and areas with significant potential for improvement. Additionally, they are well-equipped to detect instances of pilferage or corruption. Even a well-crafted policy can become inefficient or outdated in the ever-changing market landscape. Therefore, striving to identify and address areas needing improvement consistently is imperative.

I don't believe it matters how clear the policy/procedure is if nobody follows it. What are the consequences for noncompliance? Who enforces those consequences? Are they enforced consistently? "An organization's culture is defined by the worst behavior a leader is willing to tolerate."

A policy might run to a number of pages with content (let's be honest) people may not find that interesting. A single page infographic with the main day to day requirements is always useful as people can pin it to their wall or desktop for a quick reference guide. This has always worked well for me.

From the lens of public international procurement - divide the governance framework into layers targeted at different users and establishes an order of precedence. Start with principles, like “best value for money”, “competition”. Max 4-5. Flesh out to policies, like “written contract”, “authorization”. Max 2-3 pages. The the large part - procedures. How do you run a public bidding exercise. Finally, best practices, like a “form”,“template” etc. Most non-procurement staff should only care about and follow the principles and policies. Leave the procedures and practices to the procurement staff and auditors. Sounds simple, but very hard to do when you have legacy documents spanning hundreds of pages.

Many procurement policies I've seen are written in a way that they're complicated and are then kept in filing cabinets only in the procurement department. Procurement policies are an extremely important part of the success of the overall organisation but I've never seen any real training being offered to management in policy creation. Usually it's an area where management need to forage through themselves and rely heavily on existing documentation and tinker around the edges. Often a completely refreshed policy is required and this can be extremely difficult to do, essentially this could involve a complex change management process where communication, alignment and performance checking of the changes are required.

One additional consideration when developing and maintaining a procurement policy and procedure is the importance of transparency and accountability. These documents should clearly outline how procurement decisions are made, what criteria are used, and who is responsible for each step. Transparency ensures that all stakeholders, including staff, suppliers, and the public, can understand the process and have confidence in its fairness. Accountability holds individuals and the organization responsible for their actions, helping to prevent corruption or unethical behavior. By fostering transparency and accountability, your procurement processes can gain trust and credibility within and outside your organization.