Many organizations face remaining in a transactional purchasing environment for one reason or another. What advantages are presented with a transactional relationship with suppliers?

Our authors champion the concept of Supply Alliances as a characteristic of World-Class procurement organizations. To move to the next level with a Supply or Supplier Alliance, what is the organizational environment and relationship components that must be present to ensure success?

Now that you understand that a SOW is interwoven into a solicitation and makes up the end-state contract, what are the elements we should see in a SOW?

To influence performance and success of the contract, which plans should you integrate into a solicitation? (Professional input- these are usually added through Special Terms and Conditions)

Based on your reading, what factors or cost considerations influence the decision to make or buy?

Our authors point to the "virtual corporation" with horizontal integration and major outsourcing of all non-core competencies as the trend of the future. Many of you may have experienced this trend as reality. What should be retained as a core functions within an organization by insourcing? What are some functions that should automatically be considered for outsourcing? What dangers must be considered with these automatic outsourcing decisions?

Our authors expose you to various methods for discovering suppliers to support your organization's requirements. Based on the date of our reading material, is there any new approaches to identifying new suppliers in 2015?

Only two procurement solicitation tools were shared in our text for selecting a supplier, the Request for Bid (RFB) (often referred to as Invitation to Bid (ITB)), and the Request for Proposal (RFP). Are there other procurement tools we could consider? When would you use an RFP instead of a RFB?

How would you encourage diversity participation in your solicitation? What is reciprocity and how would you prevent this illegal activity?