Discussions & Quiz Contracts & Procurement Management

DQ 1: The Preaward Phase

Bid v. No Bid

Class: There are two distinct sides of any negotiation. In many cases, people tend to review contract negotiation from the buyer's perspective. However, no analysis of contracts and negotiations would be complete without considering the seller's perspective on bid participation and negotiation. The bid/no-bid decision requires analyzing the risks versus the opportunities of a potential business deal before deciding whether or not to proceed.

We will consider the buyer's and seller's decision to participate on a bid. Consider the following:

- What are some factors that would be taken into consideration in whether to participate in a bid? Please share any examples that you may have from your experience with bids.

- What tools are available to help us make a good bid/no bid decision?

- What are some implications of declining a bid on a particular project?

- Consider and explain the role of research as it pertains to a bid decision.

Your text has some interesting perspectives on this material, which you may wish to review. You can also research bids on the Web if you feel you need some additional information and examples.

DQ 2: The Preaward Phase

Potential Conflict - Buyers & Sellers

Class, page 100 of our text mentions best practices for buyers and sellers in the pre-award phase. Do you see any potential conflicts between the two sets of suggestions? For best practices in the seller's list, explore a conflict from the buyer's side. Help your classmates consider other conflicts.

Give an example of a negotiation conflict that you have had (buyer or seller), and explain how the situation was resolved. Review what your classmates write, as all of this will offer a variety of examples of what kind of conflict can happen during a negotiation.

This will come in handy later when we explore negotiating.

Quiz

1. What are the four common actions that winning organizations are taking to build successful partnerships?

Unleashing corporate buying & selling power; changing buying & selling processes; developing an integrated supply chain; learning and applying the best practices & e-tools from industry leaders

Unleashing corporate buying & selling power; developing new buying & selling processes; communication; e-commerce

Communication; improved pricing; unleashing corporate buying & selling power; applying best practices

Communication; e-commerce; applying best practices; developing new buying & selling processes

None of the above

2. Which of the following common actions used by winning companies to build successful partnerships would involve strategic sourcing agreements, back-sourcing arrangements, joint-equity partnerships, preferred supplier agreements, and customer agreements?

Changing buying and selling processes

Developing an integrated supply chain

Unleashing corporate buying and selling power

Learning and applying the best practices and e-tools from industry leaders

None of the above

3. What are some of the best practices for building trust?

Listening to the customer

Be accessible

Develop a risk management plan

Document and share best practices

All of the above

4. Describe and explain the six steps in the contract management process for the buyer. Make sure to define each of the three phases of the process.