Determining the most appropriate procurement method can be challenging because the
selection criteria involve many factors. The criteria for selecting the right procurement method
revolve around the concepts of time, cost, and quality. However, these concepts cannot be solely
used to chose be used to choose the right procurement route due to the underlying complexity
associated with the priorities of a particular procurement strategy with the needs of the client.
Instead, the concepts of time, cost, and quality should aid the decision-making process. In this
light, this section will provide the right procurement route for a Pharmaceutical company that
wants to build a vaccine production facility as soon as possible. The key to selecting the right
procurement route is paying attention to the client's specific needs and the project's complexity.
The Needs of the Company and the Specific Features of the Project
The goal of identifying the client's specific needs is to ensure that the company is
satisfied with its building and how it has been procured. First, the vaccine production facility is
needed as soon as possible. This implies that the project is required within a very strict
timeframe. It also implies that early completion is highly required to the extent that the client
wants the project started before the construction design is finished. The certainty of the
completion time is very important to this particular client.
Besides, it is an urgent project and requires strict quality, clinical, and regulatory
standards. In this case, it is important to choose a procurement route that can ensure the project's
quality in terms of the design concept, construction materials, and workmanship. Given the
project's complexity, it is necessary to settle for a procurement route that can guarantee the
building's high specialization. The building would also require technological advancements to
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enhance its desired functionalities in adherence to the three principle facets of vaccine facilities'
conceptual design that include the three principle facets include design, technology, and
operations. The design of the vaccine manufacturing facility must be good manufacturing
practice (GMP) compliant (Gandara, Affleck and Stoll, 2018). This is to enhance biosafety and
contaminant compliance to ensure the employees have a safe working environment and that
infectious agents do not leak to the outside environment. The facility must be designed to ensure
the production flow's efficiency to guarantee the end-users' safety.
The technology facet provides the platform and technology for the vaccine
manufacturing process. In this case, the right equipment must be procured to enhance the vaccine
production process's efficiency. It is also worth noting that the client is convinced that the
project will be rewarding upon completion and provide a generous budget. However, the budget
is not unlimited. For these reasons, it is important to note that the three concepts of time, quality,
and cost mentioned earlier are at play. They must be used to guide the decision-making process.
Why Management Contracting Strategy is Suitable for The Company
Given the nature of the project and the client's specific requirements, I think that the right
procurement route is the management contracting procurement strategy. The level of urgency of
the project requires that the construction time should be reduced. The management procurement
route allows an early start on sight to lead to the project's early completion. Just like the design
and construct route, the management contracting strategy can allow the design and the building
process to proceed in parallel, in turn, reducing the project time. The management contracting
strategy is the best route in relation to the complexity of the project. The management
contracting procurement route creates a good collaborative environment and teamwork among
the design consultant, the contractor, and the client (Love et al., 2008). This will ensure
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integrating the design and construction skills at an early stage of development, mitigating the
project's complexity. Teamwork and collaboration on the client, design consultant, and
contractor can enhance quality assurance.
The other procurement route may jeopardize the quality in one way or another making
them unsuitable for this project. For example, the collaborative route may compromise on quality
to meet cost targets. The design and construct route limit the client’s control over the design
details and the contractor’s design expertise, which may compromise the building's quality (Love
et al., 2009). On the same note, the traditional route is unsuitable because it places the
responsibility for the quality wholly on the contractor, which may not be appropriate for urgent
projects with the strict quality requirement.
Q2 Procurement Route for The Prison Trust
Based on the project's conditions and the client’s needs, I think that the right procurement
route for the Prison trust in a collaborative procurement approach. Refurbishing 30 existing
prisons and building 5 new ones requires a procurement strategy that can enhance the delivery of
more for less. The collaborative approach enables clients, design consultants, and contractors to
deliver greater efficiencies through combined purchasing power. The collaborative procurement
approach is deemed the most effective route in this instance because it helps in building a strong
relationship that can, in turn, enhance the delivery of the project in the most efficient way. This
strategy enables enhanced collaboration with internal departments, suppliers, other procurement
organizations, and mission-driven organizations. The cross-functional teams must collaborate to
ensure an ideal souring situation across all aspects of the project, enabled through collaboration
with internal departments. This gives the internal departments a voice when it comes to making
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supplier selection decisions. In this way, the prison trust will achieve cost efficiency while
delivering quality services simultaneously.
Making collaborations with suppliers is a strategic way of acquiring the best quality
materials or services at reduced costs. Besides, collaboration with supplies can enhance process
improvement and encourage the development of innovative ideas. Also, fostering collaborations
with other procurement firms, especially large firms, can enable the Prison Trust to leverage
those procurement organizations' economies of scale. This can enable them to take advantage of
large supplier discounts often offered to large organizations that can allow the trust to access
quality construction materials and services at reduced costs (Naoum and Egbu, 2015). To
achieve this objective, the firm can join a buying consortium of procurement organizations,
especially those that can coordinate third-party group purchases. This helps in reducing the cost
without the need to reinvent the wheel.
Collaboration strategy can help bring about a mutual effort that can effectively mitigate
potential complexities that may arise in each phase of the project. However, one setback of the
collaborative procurement route is that quality may sometimes be compromised to meet the
targeted budget costs (Agapiou, 2020). This is why collaborating with larger procurement
organizations can provide leverage to access quality materials at a reduced cost. Besides,
forming a conglomerate with organizations that share the same interests is one of the most
effective ways of benchmarking the performance. In this way, the Prison Trust can measure how
they are performing against their peers with regard to material quality, service delivery, and
project completion time. The collaboration procurement route can help develop or acquire
procurement-related expertise that would otherwise be impossible to achieve if operating in
isolation.
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b)
The collaboration procurement is the most effective procurement route for Prison trust
since it is interested in delivering its projects in the most efficient ways. However, if the Prison
Trust decides to separate the project and treat each project singly, then the most effective
procurement route would be the traditional procurement strategy. The traditional procurement
route entails separating design from construction. In this case, the client can have each of the
renovation project and the new prisons designed by a consultant of their choice. The consultant
can then design project details and also be responsible for cost control measures. The client can
then invite contractors to submit quotations or tenders for each project. Treating each project
separately can enhance the outcome's quality since the client can have closer control over every
project. However, it can be hard to manage since the client or project managers may have to
communicate with many people simultaneously. The traditional procurement strategy also
requires a lot of time, which may not be an issue in this case since the project delivery period is
spread over the 4-year time frame
Q3:
a) Advantages and Disadvantages of using PFI
One of the advantages of PFI is that it enhances the on-time delivery of key projects.
Traditionally, governments have to raise money to fund public infrastructure projects such as
roads, bridges, hospitals, prisons, defense contracts, social housing, and schools. In some cases,
the governments may not have the money to initiate these projects and are compelled to raise the
capital through other means such as the bond market. The process of raising the money may
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sometimes be cumbersome and time-consuming and may eventually delay the delivery of public
projects. However, through PFI, public projects can be delivered on time.
Another benefit of PFI is that it helps transfer risks from the government to the private
entity. Every project comes with risks and opportunities. As the private sector wants to explore
the opportunities, they also bear risks that the government would otherwise bear. It allows the
governments to outsource the non-core activities allowing it to focus on highly sensitive projects.
PFI saves government money that can be invested in pressuring sectors. Also, the PFI fosters a
good relationship between the public and private sectors.
However, as mentioned earlier, using PFI is also associated with some cons. For instance,
it reduces the influence of the government on public investments. This makes it difficult for the
government to control the completed projects whose contractual periods have not yet matured. In
this way, the private firm overcharges the finished project users with little or no government
intervention. Also, the term of payment may be unfavorable to the government. The repayment
term includes the invested capital plus the interest. The only problem with this arrangement is
that it passes the burden to future taxpayers. In some projects, the contractual agreement includes
construction and maintenance costs, which increases future tax burden and the project's costs.
b) The Advice to the client on the Actions to Take to address Poor Maintenance Issues
The risk of service disruptions and increasing costs arise in situations where authorities
fail to prepare for contract maintenance in advance adequately. In this case, until the assets are
returned to the public sector, it is appropriate that the client should negotiate with the SPV to
determine if the service provider wants to continue running the asset. This instance aims to
ensure that maintaining the PFI contract is aligned with both the current and the future ownership
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of the schools. The client must ensure that the service provider is incentivized to use their
resources to manage the asset effectively.
The lapse in asset maintenance may result from a lack of the services provided that are
likely to end upon the PFI contract expiry. The service provider may be relaxed, knowing that
they may not retain the contract when the asset is handed over to the new management. For this
reason, the client must communicate with the service provider and inform them that the contract
still has ten years to expire. When approaching the service provider, the client should objectively
seek to understand if the service provider wishes to maintain the contract for the remaining ten
years that the contract will be active. Suppose the service provider expresses an interest in
holding on to the contract. In that case, the client should communicate the minimum asset
working conditions that must be maintained at all times, without which a replacement of the
service provider would be initiated with immediate effect.
The client must maintain sufficient knowledge of all assets’ condition to sustain their
qualities at all times. Though it is the SPV's responsibility to maintain the asset conditions and
report to the authority, the client must monitor the asset conditions at all times. To achieve this,
the client must frequently request critical data such as ongoing asset conditions and maintenance
expenditure from the SPV. The client also must cooperate with relevant authorities to ensure that
information is shared freely among the stakeholders.
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Reference List
Agapiou, A., 2020. Factors influencing the selection of a procurement route for UK offsite
housebuilding. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers-Management,
Procurement and Law, pp.1-12.
Gandara, C., Affleck, V. and Stoll, E.A., 2018. Manufacture of third-generation lentivirus for
preclinical use, with process development considerations for translation to Good
Manufacturing Practice. Human gene therapy methods, 29(1), pp.1-15.
Love, P.E., Davis, P.R., Edwards, D.J. and Baccarini, D., 2008. Uncertainty avoidance: public
sector clients and procurement selection. International journal of public sector
management.
Love, P., Davis, P., Baccarini, D., Wilson, G., and Lopez, R., 2009. Capital works procurement:
The selection of a building procurement method. Cooperative Research Centre for
Construction Innovation, CRC Construction Innovation, Brisbane, Australia.
Naoum, S. and Egbu, C., 2015. Critical review of procurement method research in construction
journals. Procedia Economics and Finance, 21, pp.6-13.