Project management is all about utilising expert skills and knowledge to achieve the most desired outcome. When there is a team, budget and schedule to run, it is important you have someone to oversee everything and ensure lines of communication are stable.
Within our project management services, we offer expertise in multiple areas from site investigation to bespoke preparation of client documents. But what is the importance of procurement and why do we offer advice as part of our service?
To understand this and decide whether you may need more insight throughout your next project – we need to take a further look into what it entails.
What Is Procurement Project Management?
The purpose of this service is to build and maintain relationships with vendors and retailers. These will be the people who supply necessary materials and labour throughout the construction project.
You won’t necessarily be hiring one company to cover every aspect of the build and design. So managing each team and communicating changes or requirements to each one can be hard to manage.
This service provides you with advice and strategy to hire the right people and retain important relationships that can benefit your project. This is an essential part of your supply chain and requires a range of competencies that allow us to carry out set processes.
What Is Design And Build Procurement?
This describes a situation whereby one main contractor is taken on for both aspects of construction. This differs from usual as you will often find multiple contractors are made responsible for one or the other.
The benefit of this route is that project owners can build one, clear line of communication. Goals tend to be met and requirements understood much quicker this way. Although, this type of project will vary depending on the degree of responsibility given to the contractor.
Owners will have to allow ample time for these people to prepare each element of the design and build route and facilitate time for their proposal.
What Is Partnering?
Partnering arrangements will be made to allow each element of a project to work seamlessly together.
This includes design, construction and general administration and operation. The collective role here is to identify key suppliers and contractors that will provide adequate services and meet the expectations of owners.
Not only that but our role within partnering will include settling disputes and negotiating prices where applicable. This can be adopted for one-off projects or be built as a long-term relationship across multiple projects.
The main aim here is to provide a mutual benefit to all parties involved. We ensure communication is crystal clear and each contractor receives what they need to complete milestones and stay within the owner’s guidelines.
What Is The Importance Of Procurement?
Without having a manager of some kind in place for these strategies, you may end up receiving incorrect stock, materials or even missing out on opportunities altogether. As well as this, there are plenty of other reasons you’ll need to take care when managing the project if you want it to be completed in a timely manner.
1. Quality Control
One of the most important benefits is ensuring every material, layout, design choice and labourer is chosen meticulously. This will ensure everything lives up to the standards of the project owner. Proper planning and management by experienced procurement teams is the only way this can be assured.
The importance of procurement is apparent in this way during every stage of the project. Our professional advice will allow proper quality control and time checks to be carried out regularly. This will catch any issues or mistakes before they have a chance to impact the result.
For instance, during the design and build route choosing the materials, managing the budget and ensuring the right stock is delivered on time will be crucial factors managed by the procurement team. The relationships between management and vendor could make or break the ability to keep on top of quality.
Leaving this to dedicated teams that have been outsourced or relying on an inexperienced site owner to keep up with the daily challenges could be detrimental. At the end of the day, stakeholder satisfaction is the main objective – so turn to the experts.
2. Lowering Costs
What is the importance of procurement for budget and quality of results?
Well, by having just one contractor responsible for the design and build aspects of the project, owners and contractors alike can be sure that all requirements are met across the board. Responsible for the quality of each outcome as well as the implementation will provide advantages for a lower cost.
Not having to negotiate fees with multiple contractors gives the project more scope and flexibility to acquire quality materials and delegate priority areas. They will be able to assess alternative solutions and implement more innovative ideas to benefit both sides of the project.
With innovation comes productivity and being able to rely on a single contractor to produce this will likely lead to cost savings across the board. Especially if these can be carried out during the development stage.
3. Improved Teamwork & Leadership
No matter the size of a project, if every service isn’t working in unison – you’ll never achieve the desired results. Let alone expecting that within strict time constraints. This is yet another answer to the question ‘what is the importance of procurement’?
We understand that everyone has their niche and preferred skillset. Utilising these to their full potential requires teams to communicate efficiently. Understanding your services is a huge part of making this possible. When the dedicated manager is sourcing different labourers and materials – they are able to coordinate the processes as one unit.
This means everything required to fulfil the brief will be taken care of. As a result, the construction can take place smoothly with everyone interlinking services under careful management. If you’re looking to avoid setbacks and unhappy workmen, getting the plan and administration underway will benefit you greatly.
4. Supply Chain Management
Handling the flow of goods and services will impact the success of all our above points. The importance of procurement is obvious when you think about the benefits of strong supply chain management.
Not only can it improve the financial performance of the project by investing in quality services and only outsourcing where necessary – but it plays a significant role in customer satisfaction.
Reducing operating and material costs while ensuring quality is only possible through procurement activities as it utilises the understanding and connections of our team. There are a few main components that will be managed to create a unified, efficient process:
- Sourcing – Evaluating bids and building relationships with suppliers is a key part of the planning stage and can make or break a successful strategy.
- Demand – Managing inventory and ensuring the correct amount of each material is sourced. As well as ensuring vendors can produce these goods in a timely manner should you need to source more.
- Transportation – A key component to the supply chain. It is vital each product can be delivered within the deadlines and to a high standard, avoiding damages or replacements.
5. Connecting The Dots
The importance of procurement is demonstrated through the new level of information we receive as a result. The more visibility we have, the easier it is for us to get involved in certain areas and find solutions for problems.
We can build that all-important bridge with contractors and invest time in understanding each level of the project. For example, if there were to be an issue with the design process – we would already have made that connection with the contractor in other areas.
Why Invest In It?
Now we’ve explored what is the importance of procurement – we hope it is a bit more clear why you should rely on the professionals to carry out each process.
Here at Blakeney Leigh, we are a multidisciplinary consultancy and so have experts in all areas of construction and property. As a result, we can offer the highest quality insights and advice to any supplier issues or strategy implementation.
Investing the right amount of assets into getting this right will ensure your project runs smoothly from start to finish and is undertaken efficiently. You could be saving money and avoiding incidents by prioritising this aspect of management.
Are you looking to begin a development project and want to work with a trusted, reputable construction consultancy? Contact us today here or call 020 8777 7700 and a member of our dedicated team will be more than happy to discuss your individual requirements.
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