Benefits of having a strategy

There are a number of benefits of having a published procurement strategy:

  • Sets out the institution's procurement aims and objectives for the next 3 to 5 years
     
  • Sets out the institution's procurement vision
     
  • Demonstrates the support by senior management (through the ratification of the Strategy by the institution's senior committee structure) for the work of the function and of the central Procurement Office staff
     
  • Maps out the major initiatives to be addressed in the forthcoming 3 to 5 years
     
  • Provides a public commitment to maintain and improve the day-to-day procurement work within the institution and emphasises a determination to make continual improvements in that work
     
  • Sets out the framework upon which the institution's procurement policy and procedures are based
     
  • Provides objectives against which progress can be measured and reported

The strategy must also be flexible so that where there are new developments these may be incorporated into the forward plan. Therefore, the Strategy document should be reviewed annually to determine progress against the published aims and objectives.  Where parts have become dated (due to, for example, technology shift) the document should be revised, even though its end-date is not due.