Overview 

This standard is about selecting suppliers for external services or supplies, negotiating terms and managing outsourced services or supplies. 


Performance Criteria

You must be able to:

  1. confirm the brief for the workto be procured
  2. brief suppliers about requirements and constraints
  3. select suppliers to meet requirements 
  4. check and confirm that services or supplies meet your requirements
  5. make procurement decisions following organisational protocols
  6. reach agreement with suppliers about what will be delivered by them and on what terms
  7. create contracts to confirm the agreements using break clauses if required 
  8. communicate with suppliers
  9. confirm and agree performance monitoring arrangements with suppliers 
  10. identify and record the reasons for any issues in meeting requirements
  11. agree any alterations with suppliers and inform them of the implications
  12. arrange for payment to be made in line with agreed timescales and performance and record the reasons for any payment that differs from the original agreement
  13. record and resolve issues and take action to stop them reoccurring in the future, seeking legal advice where necessary


Knowledge and understanding

You need to know and understand:

  1. the brief, budget and schedule for the work
  2. the organisational protocols and procedures when procuring external services or supplies
  3. the key stages of a tendering process and how to manage it
  4. how to minimise the disruption to client and agency business that procurement may cause
  5. how to define scoring criteria for supplier selection
  6. how estimates and tenders can be broken down to enable comparison
  7. parameters for key variables, potential concessions or trade-offs that could be negotiated when procuring services or supplies
  8. how contracts are structured, and payments will be made
  9. how to agree standards of performance in service or supply
  10. how to get advice about seeking redress for unsatisfactory performance, including taking legal action
  11. the systems for recording variations in performance and agreed corrective actions
  12. the legal requirements related to working with suppliers
  13. contingency planning related to the procured work
  14. the importance of liability insurance
  15. communication methods