Procurement Professional is the official publication of CIPS Australasia

#72 - Spending the stimulus package was a reminder of the strategic role of procurement

22 Sep 2009

The federal Government’s Keynesian plans to reflate the economy included the massive $52bn economic stimulus package of course.

Which led to a debate over which was more important – speed to market for the cash, or integrity of the pre-set government procurement processes?

And the federal finance minister, Lindsay Tanner, got a little tongue tied when asked directly at the CIPSA public sector conference PSPF4 way back on 28th July 2009, which was more important? He got to “procurement process” in the end, fearful of being quoted The Buyer suspects.

But, clearly, government buyers at all levels were under pressure to splash the cash quickly and truncate long-winded procurement processes. Pulling back on the spend now, as the need to reflate subsides, suggests that the sanctity of process will now return maybe? Harried buyers can return to well-known process without the added pressure of speed to market maybe?

Except, process is not everything. Process is a means to an end, not an end in itself. The Buyer has trod this path before [see The Buyer's Blog #38 and the NBN case study]. The process should serve the strategy to achieve the desired outcome – NOT be a strategy in itself. It was right for government (the stakeholder here) to press for speed to serve a higher need. It is the role of the ‘strategic procurement’ professional to be just that – strategic. That means serving the desired need, not being a ‘process jockey’ and driving process as if that is the goal.

If the process is not delivering the required result, change it.

The Buyer – posted 22nd September 2009

The views of THE BUYER are personal and are not necessarily those of Procurement Professional magazine, BTTB Marketing nor CIPS.