You negotiated the price. The specification had already set it.

Most procurement effort goes into the last few per cent of a number that was decided years earlier, by someone who has probably left.

By Steve 5 min read
Abstract bridge artwork for You negotiated the price. The specification had already set it.

The contract comes up for renewal. Three suppliers are invited to sharpen their pencils. One of them finds another two or three per cent, everyone shakes hands, and the saving gets written up. It is a real saving. It is also a claim on the narrowest part of the number. The wider part, the part that determines what the item costs to make, hold and deliver in the first place, was settled when someone wrote the specification. Often years ago. Often by a technical colleague who has since moved on,…

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