Strategic sourcing
Sourcing is where procurement either earns its budget or does not. We build the category strategy, run the events and negotiate the contracts, alongside your team rather than instead of it.
The problem this solves
Categories get re-tendered on a calendar rather than a strategy, so the market is approached the same way every three years regardless of whether it has changed.
Specifications are written by the requesting department and inherited unchanged, which quietly locks in the incumbent before a single supplier is approached.
Evaluation weighs price because price is easy to score, and total cost of ownership gets discussed but not modelled. The award is defensible and the outcome is average.
What we actually do
The steps, in the order we run them.
Category strategy
We assess the category's spend profile, the supply market, the demand drivers inside your business and the levers actually available. Not every category is a negotiation problem, and saying so early saves months.
Market engagement
Supplier discovery beyond the incumbents, including regional and in-country value qualified suppliers where that matters to your tender rules. Market dialogues before the RFP, so the specification reflects what is buyable.
RFx design
Requirements written to attract the strongest responses rather than to describe what you already have, with evaluation criteria and weightings agreed before bids arrive rather than after.
Evaluation
Structured scoring against the agreed criteria, with total cost of ownership modelled rather than asserted, and a clear audit trail behind every score.
Negotiation and award
We sit at the table. Commercial terms, service levels, price mechanisms and exit rights negotiated together, so the contract holds its value past year one.
What you get
- A category strategy with the levers and the value at stake
- A qualified supplier long list and short list
- Complete RFx documentation and evaluation framework
- A scored evaluation with a defensible audit trail
- A negotiated contract and a supplier transition plan
Across sourcing and tender processes we run, cycle times fall by 50 to 75 per cent against the client's previous baseline, because the strategy work happens before the clock starts rather than during it.
Questions we get asked
Do you run the sourcing event or advise us on it?
We run it. We build the strategy, write the documents, engage the market, score the responses and negotiate the contract, working alongside your category owner rather than handing them a method and leaving. Advisory-only is available if that is what you want, but it is not our default.
Can you work within our tender rules and governance?
Yes, and in the public sector that is the point. We have delivered inside UAE federal procurement law for the Central Bank of the UAE and across more than 30 federal entities for the Ministry of Finance. Governance is a constraint we design around, not an obstacle we route past.
Which categories have you sourced?
More than 40, across IT and telecoms, facilities and MEP, professional services, marketing, logistics, capital equipment, MRO and construction. Our consultants have run these categories inside organisations, so the market knowledge is first hand.
What if the incumbent is the right answer?
Then that is the finding, and a defensible one. A well-run sourcing event that confirms the incumbent at better terms is a good outcome. Changing supplier for its own sake destroys more value than it creates.
Where to start
Run the free procurement maturity diagnostic for a scored view of where the gaps are, or talk to a consultant about this specific problem. Both take less time than a meeting about having a meeting.
Talk to a consultant