Description
This guide seeks to assist procurement practitioners with developing a realistic timetable for the procurement process.
This involves identifying each step in the process, assigning responsibilities, ensuring sign-offs and approvals are built in and plenty of time is allowed.
It is good practice to include an excerpt from your timeline in the RFx so that suppliers have an indication of when offers will be evaluated
and when they may expect to know the outcome.
Don’t underestimate how long the overall process will take.
Objective:
- This stage seeks to assist procurement practitioners with developing a realistic timetable for the procurement process.
Output:
- Process flow and timetable for each of the process steps
RESPONSE TIMEFRAMES MUST BE REASONABLE
Suppliers must be given a reasonable timeframe to complete the required tasks and respond to tender opportunities, whether the tender is open or closed.
Treasury Regulations require that bids be advertised for a minimum period of 21 days before closure,
except in urgent cases when bids may be advertised for shorter period as the accounting officer or accounting authority may determine.
In your planning, consider how long it will take a supplier to:
- obtain the full tender documentation
- read and analyse the documents
- seek clarification, if required
- prepare pricing information
- develop and submit a responsive tender, and
- arrange for the tender to be delivered on time.
You should also consider the nature of the procurement activity and the circumstances of the approach to market, including:
- the goods or services you’re purchasing
- the procurement’s maximum estimated value over its lifespan
- the risks and their impacts on your department’s business
- how simple it is to define the deliverables
- the complexity of the procurement activity
- how much you need to engage with suppliers (you might need supplier briefings for unique or novel purchases)
- how much clarification suppliers might need, and
- the amount of information and level of detail the suppliers need to provide.