UK based Charity

Our experience...

Procuring were engaged by the Client to conduct a review and re-design of their existing contracting and due diligence processes. The Client operated in the charity sector and worked with a wide range of different suppliers in their funding activities for achieving social change. The purpose of the engagement was to ensure that the contracting and due diligence processes were legally complaint and provided users with an efficient user experience, whilst at the same time recognising that a one size fits all contracting approach was not an appropriate solution to meet the Client’s needs.The main high-level outputs of the project comprised:

• Understand the different types of suppliers which the Client contracted with;
• Assess and document the existing contracting processes;
• Develop a prioritised list of user needs for the contracting processes;
• Design user journeys for users within the Client to follow when contracting with different types of suppliers; and
• Create tailored contract structures and due diligence criteria for users within the Client to utilise when contracting with different types of suppliers.

Our approach to the project comprised of two phases: discovery and delivery. The discovery phase focused upon gathering and analysing information to allow our team of experienced consultants to understand the different types of suppliers which the Client contracted with and how the contracting processes with those different types of suppliers worked. This involved a thorough review of the Client’s spend data, contracts, process documentation, along with interviews with key stakeholders involved in the existing contracting processes. The discovery allowed our consultants to assess and document the current contracting processes and develop a prioritised list of user needs. At the end the discovery phase, we produced a detailed diagnostic report for the Client. This document detailed our findings following completion of the discovery phase and included a set of recommendations for the Client to implement based upon best practice principles across procurement and supply chain management.The delivery phase focused upon providing the Client with a range of deliverables based upon the user needs identified during the discovery phase. The deliverables covered supplier segmentation, the design of user journeys, and the creation of tailored contract structures and due diligence criteria for Client users to utilise when contracting with different types of suppliers.The discovery phase highlighted that the Client did not have a formal decision-making process or documented tool in place to assist users in identifying the appropriate contracting route and due diligence pathway to follow with an external third-party. The result of this was that the current approach was rather unclear and confusing for users. Therefore, during the delivery phase of the project, our consultants designed a contracting and due diligence decision-making tool which would advise and direct Client users to the most appropriate contracting route and due diligence pathway to follow with an external third-party. The tool was created in Microsoft Excel and provided a user-friendly interface with all the calculations built behind the scenes. The tool included a section for contracting and a section for due diligence. The contract decision making tool was created to help users identify the appropriate contract pathway to follow. Based upon user responses to a series of questions, the tool would advise a user on which existing contract temple was most suitable for use. The due diligence decision making tool was created to identify the appropriate due diligence pathway to follow. The tool invited users to answer a series of questions to assess the contract value and level of contractual risk with the external third party. Based upon these responses, a user would be advised on the appropriate due diligence standards to follow.

Best practice...

We provided a team of experienced consultants with deep practical knowledge of best practice procurement and supply chain management principles.

Our consultants were able to efficiently investigate the Client’s spend data, contracts, and process documentation. Additionally, our consultants held high effective interactive stakeholder interviews designed to extract key information for benchmarking the Client’s existing contracting and due diligence processes. This benchmarked client information was then reviewed to produce a gap analysis against industry best practices. This gap analysis was used to develop a series of recommendations for the Client to implement within their operations to align themselves with industry best practice for contracting and due diligence.

Organisational Benefits...

The contracting and due diligence decision-making tool provided a clear and easy to use decision-making process tool to utilise at the start of the contracting phase. After using the tool, Client users can clearly understand which contract route and due diligence pathway to follow with their external third party.

Further to the contracting and due diligence decision-making tool, the Client was provided was a clear set of recommendations to review and implement as a roadmap for best-in-class procurement and supply chain management.