welcome

Procurement advice, help and support, via consultancy, training, coaching and occasionally interim assignments, is our primary stock in trade. Although, on request, we are knights in shining armour helping potential suppliers improve their tenders to win more business.

Curiosity, inclusivity, empathy and enthusiasm motivate us to work and collaborate as peers, there is no 'us and them'. We don't 'do something to you’, we 'do something with you’ for your specific circumstances.

Procurement is …

Procurement is far more than ‘just spending’ or ‘just saving money’! Done well it enables public, private and non-profit organisations to realise hugely valuable outcomes. Ultimately, valuable outcomes enable you to …

“… satisfy beneficiaries needs sustainably, particularly those of your primary beneficiaries, by buying, spending, receiving, using and disposing of no more than ‘absolutely’ necessary, within the prevailing circumstances.” Mark Allen, Qualitar co-founder

Are outcomes a core procurement capability?

Identifying beneficiaries, determining needs, understanding what constitutes satisfaction and then translating this into outcomes, is something you must do well. Determine what you need (needs v wants) to achieve, as outcomes, to enable suppliers to use all their relevant experience and expertise to tender their best offers, achieve great results, repair the environment, avoid waste and charge less.

Are you satisfying beneficiaries needs sustainably?

Procurement’s many diverse supply chains give you a unique opportunity to minimise adverse impacts on the environment. The considerable depth and breadth of influence available to you, when you buy, confers an individual and a collective responsibility, to minimise each supply chain’s carbon footprint.

Are you expending no more than necessary?

That is are you buying, spending, receiving, using and disposing of no more than absolutely necessary to satisfy beneficiaries needs? To do this understand the dynamics of demand and determine the ‘art of the possible’, that is the degree to which you can influence what, where, when and how much.

Are you actively listening and communicating?

When results do not satisfy beneficiaries needs prominent culprits include differing perceptions and poor communication. Put simply our own expectations and interests dominate, to the point where we do not actively listen or take time to understand, and actively communicate our understanding, of each other’s perspectives, expectations and interests.

"The great enemy of communication, we find, is the illusion of it. We have talked enough; but we have not listened. And by not listening we have failed to concede the immense complexity of our society–and thus the great gaps between ourselves and those with whom we seek understanding". William H. Whyte, from an article titled Is Anybody Listening? published in Fortune magazine in 1950.

“Miscommunication is the number one cause of all problems; communication is your bridge to other people. Without it there’s nothing. So when it’s damaged, you have to solve all these problems it creates.” Earl Sweatshirt (real name - Thebe Neruda Kgositsile) US rapper

Are you investing sufficiently in procurement? 

There is a tendency to invest, after the fact, in repairing contracts that are struggling to satisfy the expectations of stakeholders, buyers and suppliers. This can leave contracts that are satisfying expectations feeling somewhat neglected, at risk and ignorant of their potential to improve.  

“Beware the tendency, during times of good performance, to under invest in the maintenance of good performance." Deepak Malhotra, 'Negotiating the Impossible'

If you answer no, maybe or don’t know, then do you really know what you are missing out on? We identify specific causes, opportunities, consequential effects and, working closely with all parties, recommend beneficial improvements.

PS: We’re confident that whatever brought you to our website we can help, but only if you tell us all about it. Please take the time to get in touch at info@qualitar.co.uk and/or 0844 5611232, we don’t bite, judge or blame, but we do listen.