Acquisition strategies vary based on types of purchases and their significance. The purchase process proceeds more efficiently when management uses a Purchasing Policy to document how the purchase approval process is to work.
The Purchase Strategy Tool poses a set of questions that generate a purchase significance score. Based on the purchase type and significance score, the tool recommends a purchase strategy that includes the following:
- Type of purchase strategy required (from basic orders to complex RFPs).
- Who should comprise the purchase evaluation team.
- Clear steps outlined in a purchase evaluation plan.
Selecting an appropriate purchase requires balancing out purchase significance with the appropriate amount of research, evaluation, and purchase process formality. Too involved a process can be a waste of time, but skipping important steps in the process where purchase significance is high can have catastrophic results.
