Procurement


This resource was designed to assist a variety of Emergency Responders, who are not experienced with purchasing, with the basics they need to get things pretty much right during the first four weeks of an emergency response.

Please take some time to review this short presentation which discusses Supply Chain Management and common challenges one may encounter in emergency contexts.

Please find the PowerPoint of this presentation for training purposes.


Contents

  1. Basic principles of purchasing,
  2. Setting up a purchasing department,
  3. Managing purchasing,
  4. Requesting purchases,
  5. Carrying out the purchasing process
  6.         Prepostioned Items – Access & Billing
  7. NFIs & Specifications for common emergency supplies and equipment
  8.         Tendering and Selection of Financial Service Providers (FSP)
  9. Things to watch out for

And it is organized in the following manner:

    1. We briefly lay out the basic principles we follow when purchasing, for your reference.  When all else fails, make sure your actions stick to these basics.
    2. Then we provide information organized by the functions of the people we anticipate will use this resource:
      1. For the Team Leader
      2. For the Procurement Staff (or others asked to take on purchasing functions)
      3. For the Requester (People who will request purchases).But all of the information should be helpful to all types of staff, so we encourage you to look for answers beyond “your” section.
    3. Finally, we have a section on Warnings; things that you really should pay attention to.

The manual provides basics only.  If the response is going to grow, or be purchasing-heavy, the team leader should spend some of this first period finding and bringing in experienced purchasing staff. (And this is why we have a section on setting up a Purchasing Department).

Please remember, however, that the country program under which you are working is your first resource.    If you working under an existing country program, go to them first for direction, procedures, and forms.  Use this manual as a back-up, or if you are working independently.

This applies to the regional office as well. If there is no country program where you are working, or if the CP is not able to provide support, you should work closely with the regional office.

Use this resource as an addition to CP and Regional direction.