Persuading stakeholders to implement change can be difficult. This is particularly true if there are no absolute, cast iron guarantees to support the proposal. Therefore you must consider how to show the potential benefits of an embedded Contract & Supplier Management (C&SM) model.
The guidance below and the linked templates should help you build the necessary business case / justification.
Cost savings, for both the supplier and your organisation could be a C&SM benefit. Industry leaders claim a 5% minimum cost saving will be achieved by increased and embedded focus on C&SM.
Another approach is to consider the risks and missed opportunities of not focusing on C&SM, for example:
Risks and opportunities:
Consequently, C&SM is unlikely to be effective unless the parties move from a transactional to a relational model. This could actively encourage and develop close working relationships and resulting mutual benefit(s).
The success of the relationship between an organisation and suppliers/service providers depends on the extent to which there is:
You need to build the relationship outside of the traditional constraints of a performance-based contract. A ‘we are in this together’ approach should be fostered. This will encourage open communication and maximise service and cost efficiencies.
To succeed, build on small success: when a pattern of small successes has been achieved, proposing a more ambitious C&SM plan becomes less daunting. This is because you have proven results to refer to.
Instead of leaping into the unknown, it becomes the expansion of an already successful process. Initial small successes are a recognised option to create awareness and buy-in for the larger initiative. Small projects are likely to be the best way to gain the support necessary for broader, organisation-wide embedded C&SM model adoption.
The selection of small project(s) is important. It should be contracts or services not in crisis and which have scope for improvement. It is even better if it is a contract or service where stakeholders have voiced concerns or expressed a desire to seek improvements.
Once the contract/service has been agreed, a small cross-functional team should be created under a nominated contract manager who will own and manage the small project.
Once the desired outcomes are agreed, your nominated contract manager should ensure maintained focus within both organisations until they have been achieved and delivered. The results should be used to demonstrate the untapped potential open to a focused C&SM approach.
The Business Template contains some ideas you may wish to include and should help lay out the business case. Your Organisation may have a standard template to use.
Managing the supplier contractual relationship requires a discrete set of responsibilities and activities. As a result this should be the responsibility of a nominated member of staff. An organisation should consider how to ensure that:
These considerations be built into the commodity/service specification and/or the terms and conditions of the contract.
Your Contract Manager must be engaged early in the process. This will ensure they engage early with stakeholders and determine the appropriate contract service level requirements and Key Performance Indicators . Service level and KPI requirements should have been included in the tender documentation.
For Care and Support Services processes must not duplicate those of the Care Inspectorate.
The care manager is the role which has overall responsibility for ensuring that the totality of care and support for an individual is achieving the desired outcomes.
Determining the resource required to manage the contract portfolio / supplier base is not an exact science. Very often it is subjective.
Any organisation planning to transition Contract and Supplier Management responsibilities to an embedded C&SM team, must estimate the resource required. You must invest time too realistically and pragmatically plan required resources.
Some resource planning options are laid out below.
Resource planning for a new C&SM team often depends upon the judgment of an experienced manager. You should provide enough information for an experienced manager to make an initial estimation of the extent of work required i.e. to manage the volume of Leverage, Routine, Strategic and Bottleneck suppliers.
A decision may be made to start with a small selection of critical or problematic suppliers. Then you may gradually incorporate more contracts/suppliers with additional resource coming on board as appropriate.
The Resource Planning Tool is taken from a Scottish Public Sector organisation’s successful proposal to transition from a traditional ‘let & forget’ model to a C&SM model (and is indicative only). For the avoidance of doubt, this organisation absorbed the workload into the existing headcount by reallocating/reprioritising responsibilities and eliminating non value-add activity.
Quantification / Segmentation is the most accurate methodology of estimating the resource required to manage the contract / supplier portfolio. It is however, still an ‘estimation’ as many factors can affect the resource requirements, such as:
You need to dentify where your contract sits. The Strategic Positioning tools found in the Develop Commodity/Service station can assist you in doing this.
Regardless of how formal a commodity/service strategy is, or is not, there is always thought and decision making on:
A straightforward way of assessing the potential level of C&SM required is to consider the:
Please find below the Segmentation Tool document at the bottom of the page. This segments the contract portfolio into four categories (Leverage, Strategic, Bottleneck, Routine), which will allow an organisation to estimate the extent of work involved in managing each category.
Scorecard
Please find below the Full Balanced Scorecard. The balanced scorecard can be edited to suit the commodity/service area.
The Resource Tool can be used to help you estimate the amount of resource reuired for your contract management needs.
Please find below the Contract Management Supply Positions Tool. The document helps you segment your contract portfolio into four categories (Leverage, Strategic, Bottleneck, Routine). This will allow your organisation to record the extent of work involved in managing each category. This includes frequency of performance review meetings and frequency of Management Information, etc.
This tool will provide an estimated resource calculation. There is a natural tendency to over-estimate the work required: it is important to avoid this by being as pragmatic as possible. It is worthwhile comparing/collaborating with a similar organisation which has a more mature C&SM operation. Especially where an organisation lacks the experienced managerial staff required to make informed judgements. This collaboration will allow your organisation to benefit from the mature organisation’s experience You will factor in distortions such as the learning curve they experienced on the journey towards maturity.
Roles and Responsibilities
Board / Senior Management sponsorship is critical to the success of embedded Contract and Supplier Management.
The Board / Senior Management Team should take the ultimate strategic ownership of business critical strategic supplier(s). They should be fully committed to improving contract performance collaboratively with those suppliers.
Every contract should be managed by a nominated member of staff (‘contract manager/contract management officer’). In a collaborative setting, organisations should determine which organisation will take the lead in managing the contract. An organisation should ensure that there is clarity about the distinction between:
The Contract Manager/Contract Management Officer should have the mind-set to exceed rather than meet required goals. They will, deal with a constantly changing set of requirements. They need excellent communication and stakeholder management skills. They should be the principal owner of the supplier relationship and contract performance. They will be responsible for business to business relationships, contract management performance and contract management competencies, including:
Contribute to contract and supplier management process by:
Quickfire Guide
The Contract Management Guidance provides guidance to the Contract Manager around the following activities:
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