READOS / Business
Buying Well: Procurement and Tendering
Defining what to buy, choosing how to price it, running a fair market approach and agreeing terms before award.
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- 01Learn, shape, compete: asking suppliers the question you are actually ready forRequests for information, proposals and quotes suit different stages of knowing. How to match the request to what you know, avoid tendering too early or too late and respond as a supplier.
- 02How much design do you need before seeking quotes? Balancing definition, innovation and scheduleGo to market too early and suppliers price uncertainty; too late and you lose time and ideas. How to judge whether a requirement is defined enough for the type of quote you want.
- 03Design first or design and build? Deciding who should own the remaining design decisionsHow to choose between designing a project yourself before tendering and asking a contractor to design and build, by matching design authority with design responsibility.
- 04Packaging work before you buy it: when to bundle, when to split and what to keepHow you package work decides who can quote, what interfaces you must manage and what you lose. How to break a project into blocks and choose to bundle, split, partner or keep.
- 05Choosing between quotes: decide how you will judge before the offers arrivePrice is visible, value is not. How to set the decision rule, gates and weights before quotes arrive, compare whole-of-life cost, treat close scores as ties and invite alternatives fairly.
- 06Fixed price or not: separating how work is delivered from how it is pricedFixed price, rates, time and materials, cost-plus and target cost each share uncertainty differently. How to pick the delivery model first, then a pricing method the work can support.
- 07Pay for accepted value, not activity: stage payments, payment claims and buying earlyPayments are control points, not invoices. How to set milestones around verifiable value, assess claims against evidence and decide when paying for materials early is worth it.
- 08Standing offers and schedule-of-rates agreements: buying repeat work without re-tenderingAgreed rates for recurring work save time on both sides, but convenience can drift into dependence. How to set scope, call-off rules, capacity, performance and review for repeat work.
- 09Settle the terms before the price: what to agree while suppliers are still competingYour bargaining power peaks between shortlisting and award. How to use it on reporting, standards, people and exit, surface supplier departures early and make sure your terms govern.
- 10Should-cost modelling: understanding what it costs your supplier to make what you buyThe invoice price is a negotiating outcome, not the economics behind it. How to estimate a supplier's costs, read the margin and decide whether to negotiate, redesign or resource.
- 11Approved supplier lists: what they really measure, and how to keep the shortlist worth choosing fromThe careful part of buying chooses among suppliers already approved, yet that approval often decided the outcome years earlier. How to check what your list measures and keep it current.
- 12Checking a preferred supplier before award: due diligence on the people, money and capacity behind a tenderA strong tender shows a supplier can describe good delivery. Due diligence checks whether it can deliver: its entity, finances, key people, subcontractors, systems and capacity.
These topic-based reading collections are organised alphabetically; chapters may be read in any order.
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