When defining requirements for the procurement of goods, the following are 20 questions to consider:
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- What do we need?
- Why?
- How many?
- When?
- What quality?
- For stock or immediate use?
- If for stock, do we have sufficient storage space?
- Where?
- Can we get the goods from another government entity?
- If not, can we make them?
- Who will make them?
- Do we buy them?
- Have we bought them before?
- Any known sources?
- What’s the cost?
- Are there funds available?
- Any funding constraints lien?
- Do we have the technical specifications?
- If not, who will prepare them?
- How long will it take to get the goods (procurement lead-time)?
Vedamurthy says
People at procurement should look at each Procurement Request (PR) from various perspectives, such as:
1. Individual end user and their department;
2. Finance department;
3. Store / Inventory;
4. Also from procurement department.
This holistic approach helps to derrive answers to the above questions
Jorge Lynch says
Certainly, procurement is a support activity that needs to take into consideration the needs of the end-user. To do so, it’s important to get multi-departmental input to ensure all options are taken into consideration. So an holistic approach is most definitely advantageous.
Vedamurthy says
Also Market related factors like ease of availability, alternative solutions, distance, foreign/local source, tax implications etc., would add more value to the need / requirement analysis
Jorge Lynch says
Useful contribution Veda, thanks. The more questions we can ask when defining requirements, the better.