Procurement Manager Interview Questions And Answers

Yes. Please inform us if you have any special requirements, when you request the Cost Estimate, and before the deposit of funds as this can influence the pricing information.

You need to declare this on the personal interest form and must ensure that the University is notified of this whenever any business dealings may be impacted by this relationship.

Value for money is a detailed and complex evaluation that takes place to review the value that the University will derive from a purchase, whether that is additional value in terms of additional warranty, additional functionality, energy consumption, whole life costs, total cost of ownership or the price that will be paid.

In EU tenders, there is a legal requirement that selection and award criteria are notified to suppliers in the notice and documentation, so they understand the importance that we have placed on each section. In non-EU tenders, it is still good practice to do this.

Please contact the Procurement Service to discuss. There are several options available, each of them will be discussed with you, but could include a formal letter to the supplier detailing issues, formal meeting with agenda to discuss issues, or, in extreme cases, notification to the supplier of breach of contract. The Procurement Service will be in the best position to provide advice.

Please review the supplier process.

There are timescales stipulated within the legislation that relate to the time the supplier has to review and submit documents. These timescales are deemed to be reasonable. The remainder of the time is linked to the process that the University undertakes in order to ensure a fair process and correct award. This would be undertaken regardless of whether it was an EU tender or not.

We have proven through proactive contract management and engagement with suppliers that sustainable procurement does not need to cost more, and can often cost less.

The Next Level Purchasing Association’s “10 Phase Approach to World-Class Sourcing” has become a globally-used best practice for conducting a sourcing initiative in the most organized, effective manner.

Vendor management software can be an excellent resource for supporting all of the processes that every procurement department should be doing: keeping track of vendor performance metrics, drawing attention to sub-par vendor performance, and identifying opportunities for vendor performance improvement.

There are many options available for handling a request to make a purchase that exceeds an internal customer’s budget. Refusing to place the order is only one – and possibly the least professional – approach to take. One option that can be explored with the internal customer is leasing the equipment instead of buying it.

Simplified, risk management is the process of identifying things that can go wrong, having a plan for handling those things if they do go wrong, and executing that plan. Procurement risk management is risk management applied to handling things that can interrupt the incoming flow of purchased goods and services and the costs thereof.

One of the key difference of Strategic Sourcing in contrast to conventional purchasing is that it extends beyond purchasing and focuses on converging and sustaining the buyer-supplier-relationships (Skjøtt-Larsen & Schary, 2001). The objective is to leverage them, exploit their capabilities, integrate and complement the core competencies of the various partners in the supply chain (interdependence) so as to provide value and cost efficiencies and uniqueness for the customer.

The objective of Procurement Services is to offer UNICEF's knowledge, purchasing capacity and logistics expertise to development partners, so that they can use their own financial resources and donor funds to procure life-saving essential supplies for children. Procurement Services is an integrated component of UNICEF’s country programmes of cooperation and has become an important entry point for UNICEF in helping countries to strengthen their national capacity in planning for supply needs, selection of supplies and equipment and their effective delivery and distribution. Procurement Services is designed as a transitional mechanism for Governments until national public and private supply systems can effectively perform their role.

With the exception of Handling Fees, UNICEF does not take title to funds paid to UNICEF by Procurement Services partners. In general, funds transferred by Procurement Services partners are treated as trust funds by UNICEF and are to be used exclusively to implement the Procurement Services arrangement entered into with the partner.

A standard MOU has a fixed, pre-determined text which has been approved by the Director of Supply Division (SD) and cannot be changed in areas other than designated entry fields. Standard MOUs are signed between the partner and UNICEF Representatives in Country Offices, or in instances where there is no Country Office presence, with SD Director.

A non-standard MOU is an MOU in which text or format other than the designated entry fields has been changed and is prepared in order to meet specific requests or needs of the customer which are not addressed in the standard MOU. Non-standard MOUs are approved by the SD Director on a case-by-case basis, and are signed between the partner and UNICEF Representatives in Country Offices, or in instances where there is no Country Office presence, with SD Director. UNICEF Representatives in Country Offices may sign a non-standard MOU only upon prior written delegation of signing authority by the SD Director.

Regardless of the source of funding, the money is classed as public money, so University procedures and legislation will apply.

This needs to be discussed with the Procurement Service who will be able to advice on the best course of action. It may be necessary to re-issue the tender, or in the case of an EU tender, re-advertise.

This is because the actual cost is being approved in the electronic system acquiring. It is therefore important to ensure your approver is happy for you to place the requisition, to save them rejecting it after the sourcing has taken place.

If possible, contact the approver by telephone or email asking for approval and complete the purchase card authorization form as soon as you are able.

As the limit is so close to the threshold set in the legislation, it would be appropriate to treat this as an EU tender. Failure to do so may result in the tender having to be aborted if costs escalated over the EU threshold.

You will need to complete the appropriate Sold Note or Gifts of Second Hand Goods and Materials form in compliance with the appropriate procedure.

Historically, there has been a gap between what procurement professionals consider to be “cost savings” and what executive management considers to be cost savings. You see, executive management uses standard financial statements as their “scorecard” for the business. Some procurement professionals have never made an effort to understand how financial statements work. Therefore, they have a difficult time reporting cost savings in a way that people using financial statements will consider legitimate. To define cost savings in a way that will be embraced by executive management, you need to communicate cost savings in a way that can be reconciled with data on the organization’s official financial statements using the “language of accounting.”

If you operate in the United States and purchase goods from US suppliers, you should be familiar with the UCC. It is the body of law that covers the purchase and sale of goods within the US above a certain monetary threshold.

Every organization has different goals and different situations. Therefore, the optimal procurement metrics for one organization may not be the optimal procurement metrics for another organization. That being said, there are 10 Procurement Key Performance Indicators that all procurement departments should consider including in their metrics. Of course, some of these may not apply and others that are not mention should be included. Therefore, please consider these metrics more of a starting point for ideas than a standard set of metrics:

☛ Cost savings
☛ Managed spend as a percentage of total spend
☛ Cost savings as a percentage of managed spend
☛ Procurement operating costs as a percentage of managed spend
☛ Return on investment
☛ Percent of on-time supplier deliveries
☛ Supplier defect rate
☛ Customer satisfaction
☛ Procurement cycle time
☛ Value of supplier idea implementation