Procurement and Purchasing Officers
Prepare orders and coordinate the procurement of materials, products and services.
New tables for the community hall
You are a purchasing officer at a shire council, organising new tables, chairs and a sound system for the community hall before a big event. It is Tuesday morning. The event is in three weeks, the budget is fixed and everyone seems to have an opinion about who should supply what. Your inbox already has three messages waiting.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
My cousin runs a furniture business and she can do the tables. She is lovely and local. Can we just order from her and skip the quote business? It would save you a lot of time.
Tell Lorraine yes, because supporting a local business is good for the town
A neighbouring supplier hears about it and complains. The council has no record of why her cousin was chosen, and your manager has to defend the decision without any paperwork.
Explain the quote process and invite her cousin to quote like everyone else
Lorraine feels a bit stung, but her cousin submits a quote. If she wins, nobody can say it was favouritism. If she does not, nobody can blame you.
Get a single quote from the cousin, then ask one other supplier just to tick the box
It looks like a process, but the second quote was only requested to make the first look good. Experienced colleagues can usually tell when a comparison has been set up.
I dropped a hamper at reception for you and the team as a thank-you for last year's order. Nothing to do with the new tender, of course. It is just a bit of Christmas cheer early.
Tell Gary thanks, and share the hamper around the office as a team treat
Your intentions are fine, but Gary's company is in the middle of a tender. The gift register is empty, and a rival could say that the supplier bought goodwill.
Keep it quietly for yourself, because it is small and nobody will notice
Someone at reception saw it arrive. You now have an undeclared gift from a company that is bidding for council work, which is exactly what the rules exist to prevent.
Decline it politely and record the offer
Gary understands once you explain that you cannot accept gifts during a tender. Your manager notes the entry in the register, and you stay clear of any question about fairness.
Your cheapest sound quote is from a company with a history of late delivery, and your dearest is from a reliable supplier. The event is fixed. I need to know which one you are putting forward, and why, by Friday.
Put forward the cheapest, because the council has to watch every dollar
The system arrives two days after the event. The council paid for hire equipment at the last minute, and the saving disappeared.
Check both suppliers' recent records, then recommend the one that fits the date and budget, with written reasons
You find the cheaper supplier has been late on two council jobs this year. Your written reasons make the decision easy to explain, and the event runs smoothly.
Put both forward with no recommendation and let the manager decide
You avoided taking a side, but the manager wanted your judgement. Giving options without a view is a way of handing the hard part back.
How it went
The hall was ready, the paperwork was clean and nobody was left with an awkward favour to repay. Purchasing officers spend public money, so fairness and a clear paper trail matter as much as a good deal. Would you be comfortable saying no politely to friends and suppliers?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The quote that left out the delivery
A fictional case set in the purchasing office of a fictional shire council that buys for libraries, depots and halls.
The situation
Hannah was a purchasing officer at Kooringal Shire Council. The library needed forty new chairs before the school holidays, and she had three quotes. One supplier was well below the others, and the library manager, who was under pressure, wanted to accept it straight away. Hannah read the fine print and noticed that the cheap quote did not mention delivery, assembly or what would happen if some chairs arrived damaged.
What they did
She rang the supplier and asked what was included. Delivery to the library was extra, assembly was extra, and damaged items had to be reported within a day. She rewrote the three quotes so they covered the same things, and showed the library manager the real comparison. She also called two of the supplier's earlier customers, who gave mixed reports about late deliveries. She wrote up her reasons and recommended the middle quote.
How it turned out
The chairs arrived the week before the holidays, assembled. The cheaper supplier would have cost about the same once everything was added, and might have been late. The library manager asked Hannah to help with the next big order, and she kept the written comparison as a template.
What would you do?
- Why might the lowest quote not be the best value?
- How would you tell a stressed manager that the answer is not yet?
- What do you think makes a purchasing officer trustworthy?