Procurement for Non-Procurement Professionals

This workshop aims to introduce part-time participants in the procurement process to the goals, processes, tools, and techniques of procurement. It explores the basics of procurement in a jargon-free way targeted at part-time participants.

This course is designed for:

The workshop is targeted at part time participants in the procurement process, who are probably not working in a full time procurement role, but who need to manage basic procurement tasks.

Course structure

This intensive one-day workshop explores the practical skills of procurement in terms of managing low(er) value transactions and understanding the risks and opportunities in the procurement process. There will be pre- and postworkshop activities totalling about 40 minutes additional workload, as the workshop is founded upon 70/20/10 principles.

Benefits of attending

Attendance will help build understanding of the end to end procurement process.

As well as these participants will gain three key benefits from attending:

1. More appreciation of choosing the right type of specification.
2. More capability in finding and evaluating suppliers.
3. Less likelihood of the procurement process failing to deliver the intended outcomes.

Key learning outcomes

1. Describe the end to end procurement process.
2. Describe the risks and opportunities in procurement and identify the controls that are appropriate to manage the process.
3. Apply a variety of principles to simple and/or lower value acquisitions to manage acquisitions both from existing contractual solutions and when no arrangements exist.
4. Manage simple bid processes and ensure that the best solution is selected.

Course Content

The pre-workshop activity will stimulate thought about what could go wrong in the procurement process and what the opportunities might be. The workshop will be led by an experienced facilitator, and will include a number of sessions involving exercises, case studies and facilitated discussions. The post-workshop activity will seek to reinforce the learning and to maximise the transfer from the workshop to the workplace.

High Level Session Plan:

• Overview of how the procurement process can deliver value for money
• Risks and opportunities in the procurement process
• What do we need?
• Writing the specification
• Understanding suppliers and the market
• Developing a procurement plan
• Managing the bid process
• Evaluating offers and selecting the best offer
• Making sure that we get what we paid for