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State of the Procurement: 2024 Pakistan Version

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With the turn of the clock, we entered a new year, but several things seem to be same as previous year despite a few changes most of the factors remain same. Almost three months have been passed in this year, but I will start that count from this moment. Main reason being current political situation; took longer than what was expected. At last elections were conducted; and now we have a full-time civilian government; that will bring stability and regulate the chaotic economy to some extent.  Art of procurement is heavily dependent on the audience and the environment in which this is presented or performed, that is why I started with a long preface that seem to be totally abstract of what day to day procurement is involved with.  Procurement or purchasing is deeply impacted by governmental policy and outlook, since Pakistan is a supplier’ market and availability of material resources is dependent on mood of available administration. Suppliers tend to limit supplies due to unstable forei
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The three color highlighter pen process

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A great piece of advice for anyone looking to improve how they integrate award criteria into their tender processes is to follow my three highlighter pen process. Take three highlighter pens (different colors) and when you are reviewing a specification for the first time, highlight passages depending on the requirements. Example Yellow: Mandatory requirements (e.g. the door must be 40mm x 2,000mm x 500mm) Blue: Mandatory requirements that require verification/validation (e.g. the door must be able to be opened from the outside, and the tenderer is required to verify that the door will be able to be easily opened by a person with reduced mobility without the need for the use of special tools). Pink: Qualitative requirements (e.g. the door will have a minimum verifiable usable life of 15 years, however it is desirable that the door will exceed this figure and offer extended warranties beyond 15 years). When you are complete All yellow highlighted paragraphs can be put into a compliance c
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A big pause

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In the start of year 2023 i promised my self to write often and to share my thoughts here. But i stumbled upon a very big pause and was not so fortunate in doing so. Guess i am out of words or my thoughts are banished.  Anyhow this year i have switched my employer and currently am striving again to sync with new one.  Monetarily this has not changed so much for me, in fact i might loose couple of bucks, cause i moved into posh city center.  Anyhow so far i am experimenting-gauging my stamina and courage. There is always some positive and some negative involved when you take a decision. Therefore you keep on debugging and testing, sometimes trying to catch another big shiny ball while leaving a smaller one.  That's all for now, maybe this is my last post of the year, maybe not; but will try to write more next year. I need to rejuvenate as a wordsmith in 2024, i guess.  Bye, Shehroz 
Location: Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
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See what you have left behind

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Your reputation matters, somewhat if you are leaving a space or going somewhere else, it does. Your reputation leaves a mark. Prestige, it is equally important as your suppliers are. You will have to own your commitment by any mean, if you want to sustain a business relationship and earn some respect. If you are not resourceful in keeping up your word, then ask upfront or refrain. Don't undermine the importance of sincerity, as commitment can only be fulfilled by the means of compassionate struggle to nurture trust. Trust hinges upon commitment and vice versa, so you have to keep up your promise. If the buyer wants to seduce a supplier for some leverage or favorable business, then this can serve as a starting point. Let your actions speak, and then you can play the partnership. Have you ensured that suppliers are being paid according to the terms set forth? Have you tried to keep in touch with supplier? Did you follow up along the contract and made any progress check? Have you mark
Location: Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
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Why you should never share your purchasing budget with suppliers

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Here's just one example why you shouldn't. Sheraz, one of my good suppliers a while back shared one of his experiences. He went to see a client about a project. He found out the budget shared for this project, through the company's internal newsletter i.e., 400,000. He priced his proposal at 425,000. The client negotiated terms and settled at 399,995. Once a supplier knows a budget, two things can happen. They only give you what you can afford for that budget. They don't always focus on the client's brief, instead they focus more on the budget. It would have been interesting to know what Sheraz would have quoted had he not known the budget and only had the detailed brief. Sometimes the business wants to count pennies and you have to play a little hardball with vendors by not giving them the full picture and by beating them down on price and/or getting them to give concessions. Push for ballpark figures upfront, don't tell them your budget, but do qualify so you
Location: Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
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When everything is a priority then nothing is a priority

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In your project pipeline or to-do list, is everything more important than everything else? Does every email in your inbox have one of those little shouting red exclamation marks next to it? Do you have a load of REALLY IMPORTANT stuff, and then something new comes along that's SOOOO important that you have to invent a whole new category of importance just to have somewhere to put it? In order to fulfill your priorities, you have to first identify what is not a priority. Ever heard of Organizational Attention Deficit Disorder? Making everything a priority and then not able to commit themselves long enough to see the results. It happens almost everywhere and with everyone. Successful people and organizations differentiate themselves by managing their priorities well. If you have more than 3 priorities, then you don’t have any. (Jim Collins, Author) Our current focus is on Prioritization and Alignment to Strategy, which means prioritizing business/personal changes to arrive at a balan
Location: Chakwal, Punjab, Pakistan
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Getting torque from procurement

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It is undoubtedly clear that procurement is the core of any organization's operation coupled with rest of functions of supply chain.  If we think of any organization like a ship, CEO/COO as captain and procurement is like a ship's hull hosting multiple engines.  And people like buyers, category managers and CPO function like engines.  Owners and management give the direction, and procurement puts the momentum. Procurement generates the torque to enable a company's ship sail through tides and ultimately win the race. Off course finance is the fuel, but you can't burn it alone, it can bring anything to ash, yet alone it is of merely any use.  Ship will only start when these engines are in sync, and engines synchronize when they have compatibility. Like any other machine they ware & tare and need replacement.  Similarly procurement people also deplete, exhaust and become outdated. If a captain don't want to break the momentum of ship they need to put an eye on gaug
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