Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Strategic Procurement

  • By Gary D. Link
  • 02/01/18

The benefits of a strategic procurement operation can be significant and far-reaching. Here are some tips to consider when attempting to become more strategic.

Align the goals of your strategic sourcing and procurement function with the institution goals. This is one of the most important things to consider.

Ensure you have a solid Spend Analytics program in place. Understanding, analyzing, and managing your institutional spend is a key component to success.

Develop a strategic sourcing plan. Use your spend data to develop a strategic sourcing plan that determines where you’re going to get the biggest ROI.

Establish the right competitive solicitation thresholds. If these thresholds, contract terms, and limits are too low, it restricts the ability of a procurement function to be truly strategic.

Make sure you have an effective e-procurement system or solution. This can significantly improve process efficiencies.

Leverage cooperative contracts and other group purchasing opportunities. Cooperative and/or group purchasing contracts provide significant time savings and financial incentives.

Continue to utilize emerging tools, such as reverse auctions. Reverse auctions bring transparency, savings, and speed to the bidding process, while ensuring that you receive the best value available.

Review and manage your payment services and processes. An e-payables solution is critical to the success of any procure-to-pay organization process.

Monitor your contract utilization and compliance. You may have great contracts in place, but if there is too much maverick spend and people are not using those contracts, or if your suppliers are not complying with those contracts, then you’re leaving money on the table.

This article originally appeared in the College Planning & Management February 2018 issue of Spaces4Learning.

About the Author

Gary D. Link, C.P.M., is senior vice president of E&I Consulting Group & Contracts. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • University of Oklahoma Announces New Campus Master Plan

    The University of Oklahoma in Norman, Okla., recently announced that it will soon launch a new, comprehensive Campus Master Plan to guide the campus’ physical development during the next decade, according to a news release.

  • Universities Continue to Launch Multimillion-Dollar Campus Transformations

    What makes the current wave of campus development especially noteworthy is its emphasis on multi-use functionality and community integration. Institutions are no longer investing solely in academic or athletic facilities in isolation. Instead, they are creating destinations that blend recreation, health, housing, and event-driven economic activity.

  • A digital silhouette works at a computer, immersed in a glowing, interconnected world

    How Will AI Transform Learning Space Design?

    For years, higher education has designed learning spaces around technology as a tool for display, capture, collaboration, and connectivity. AI changes that equation.

  • Surging Demand for Student Housing Fuels Major Campus Investment Opportunities

    University leaders throughout the U.S. are accelerating plans to modernize and expand student housing as enrollment stabilizes and demand for on-campus living rebounds. Recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics indicates that total postsecondary enrollment is projected to grow through the end of the decade, with undergraduate enrollment alone expected to increase by more than 8 percent by 2030.