What should Fred do?

Fred is a new procurement manager at a large engineering firm. They procure 100s of components and use these to make kitchen appliances such as kettles and toasters. He has been asked by his manager to look into procuring a new component which will go into a new environmentally friendly kettle and has been asked to ensure that the firm receives value for money.

What should Fred do?
A . Hold an open competition
B . Contact current suppliers to try and get a good deal
C . Invite known suppliers to bid for the contract
D . Put together a business case to make the product in-house

View Answer

Answer: A

Explanation:

Fred should hold a competition as this is a ‘key way of achieving value for money’ p.67. Fred shouldn’t put a business case together to make the product in-house without doing a make vs buy analysis, and that analysis showing make is the way to go. As the firm buy in 100s of components, it’s very unlikely that making the component in-house would bring ‘value for money’. He should also be careful of only looking at current suppliers or known suppliers- the best supplier of this new component might be unknown to the engineering firm at present.