IBIS suggests you make an assessment of the types of procurement arrangement used when selecting suppliers. Staff will have access to different types of arrangements. Some will have been set up internally while others will have been arranged by an external body such as a Consortium. Generally there are five arrangement types:
National | arrangements set up the sector’s National Working Parties; or ad hoc collaborative procurement working groups set-up to deal with a specific initiative (an example here would be collaborative procurements arranged in response to the opening up of the water industry to competition); or by bodies outside the sector, for example, Crown Commercial Services. |
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Consortia | arrangements set up by the sector's Regional Consortia |
Local | arrangements set up in association with local institutions or other bodies |
Institution | arrangements set up by your own institution, this will include one-off tender/quotation exercises |
Other | where no obvious arrangement is in place upon which the decision to use the selected supplier was based |
In general, an institution should be working to reduce the number of suppliers falling within the 'Other' classification. It should also review the profile of suppliers and commodities falling within the 'Institution' classification with a view to identifying possible areas of spend that would be suitable for consideration as regional or other collaborative arrangements.
The ability to categorise suppliers into commodity groups enables assessments to be made at this more detailed level. For example, where there is a contractual arrangement, there may be evidence of purchases being placed with non-contract suppliers, this should be investigated to determine why the leakage is happening and steps taken to reduce this.