Transparent Procurement... The Pros

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Transparent Procurement... The Pros
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Transparent is something you may use to describe
an object or material that can be seen through.
In business, transparency is something that has a
generally positive connotation if you are the one
providing it and negative if you refuse to do so
implying that you have something to hide.
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Heres what Wikipedia says about transparency in
business
"Transparency, as used in science, engineering,
business, the humanities and in a social context
more generally, implies openness, communication,
and accountability. Transparency is operating in
such a way that it is easy for others to see what
actions are performed. It has been defined simply
as the perceived quality of intentionally shared
information from a sender.1 For example, a
cashier making change after a point of sale
transaction by offering a record of the items
purchased (e.g., a receipt) as well as counting
out the customers change on the counter
demonstrates transparency."
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So when it comes to transparent procurement for
business or for government, this is an area that
will vary depending on the entity in question and
the department or branch within the government.
One example would be the military branch as
procurement of certain items would be considered
part of national security and therefore
transparency would not be ideal. What we are
looking at is a organization that is accountable
to itemployees/customers/citizens and the
benefits of transparency.
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No duplication
With a transparent procurement policy in place it
will often reduce or eliminate the duplication of
the purchased items. Expensive items with a
limited purpose will be visible to different
departments and may have the possibility of being
shared instead of purchased again. With the
awareness of visibility and accountability
looming, duplicate requests will be more closely
watched and prevented.
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Record management
Records are often better organized and managed
because multiple people can access at different
times due to the transparency. It will need to be
a well defined system so everyone can understand
and access the information they need. Overall,
this helps increase efficiency for everyone
involved.
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Bulk purchasing
In a transparent procurement system the
purchasing officers are now able to buy in bulk
quantities. Requests and POs from different
departments can be combined into a single order.
In this way they will reduce transportation and
unit costs. Upon arrival the quantities would be
distributed to their designated locations.
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Regular improvement
The people who are behind the procurement process
must not be satisfied with what they have.
Transparency has a way of increasing
accountability and improving performance. Youve
heard the saying about when the boss is away the
mouse play? Transparency means someone is always
watching. It may not mean someone is literally
there hovering over the shoulders of the
procurement team, but knowing that people can see
or check at any given time or even go back and
review the process, orders, and spending changes
the environment. People rise to the occasion and
perform better and strive for improvements that
all can see.
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This list is not exhaustive, but it should help
give you some ideas about the benefits of
transparent procurement. This doesnt necessarily
mean you need to revamp and make everything
transparent on every level. In our next post we
will look at some of the disadvantages and then
you can have a complete picture to decide what is
best for your organization.
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