Services
Procurement Advocacy
Procurement has been a grossly underestimated function, mostly regarded as an admin discipline subservient to the core disciplines of the organisation. Lately, leading organisations have embraced procurement as a key lever of value addition which can be instrumental in improving bottom line financial performance. Revolutionary management concepts, impact of new technologies and cutting edge digital technologies have highlighted the importance of procurement as strategic to business.
From merely a requisition processing function to spend management powerhouse; modern procurement has evolved to constantly innovate sourcing strategies, inventing new ways of looking at internal demand, relationship management and discovering new methods of approaching the marketplace. In short, Procurement has transformed from tactical to strategic delivery. Consequently a new set of expectations has emerged in terms of capability, processes and value delivery. A unique opportunity exists as most organisation still carry on business in the traditional way and are intensely focused on day to day activity. Value creation through procurement still remains an unfulfilled dream. The challenge is to transform the Procurement function to deliver value that is fully aligned to business strategy and can be transparently measured and tracked in bottom line financial performance of the organisation.
The case of Pakistan is a peculiar one where public procurement scandals are virtually brought out and discussed in public space on a regular basis. Most of these scandals end up in litigation and are often the subject of court orders. Many a times, these orders are overturned in international adjudication forums. As a country Pakistan faces awards from international courts, for billions of dollars; for contracts terms not honored. This creates a bad press for Pakistan, as a country and deters investment in public-private partnerships. Challenges related to transparency in the public procurement realm remain to be resolved as the number of scandals in public procurement are in the rise. There is a dire need to improve the quality of Procurement practice to save the function from disrepute.
Costmap is dedicated to the promotion and development of Procurement supply chain management as a specialist science. It engages with key stakeholders in the public and private sectors to advance procurement law and policy matters. It provides a platform for all stakeholders to debate, collaborate, develop, and advocate for consensus-based policy positions that seek to promote the Procurement function and also align interests of government and industry. Costmap also holds seminars and webinars for frequent exchange of stakeholders to further government-industry partnership.
Broad principles supported by costmap in its continuous advocacy are the following: Honesty and integrity in Federal acquisition.
- Development and understanding of Procurement processes that are simple, easy to understand, transparent, credible, traceable, and audit-able.
- Promotion of Procurement as a specialist discipline, distinct from other functions in the organisation.
- Enhancement of Procurement capability within line and Procurement discipline.
- Making available avenues, for media, legal system and watch dogs to distinguish Procurement science from disinformation.
- Highlighting “value delivery” and “total cost of ownership” in Procurement process especially in relation to public procurement. Promote collaboration between government and private sector.
- Introduce innovative and smart ways of “demand management” especially in the public sector Procurement.
- Foster competition and contestation and provide equal opportunity to all players in the marketplace.
- Compliance with legal and regulatory requirements throughout the Procurement cycle. Minimize room for scandal formation and litigation which bring a bad name to Procurement function.
- Introduce the idea of “Procurement Ombudsman “at different levels in private and public sector to redress legitimate grievances of supplier.
- To instill and inculcate the principles of “Separation of Authorities”.
