The manufacturing revolution began with total quality management and evolved into different ideas of the premises found in this manufacturing philosophy. In fact, in the beginning of Six Sigma's development, many business professional felt that it was just another fad that was that was built upon a model that was basically Total Quality Management (Basu & Wright, 2012)
One example of the technology driven procurement is the advancement of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology that has implications for any industry that deals with spoilage such as many of the food oriented businesses in the service industry. One interesting application for the use of RFID in these industries has been identified to be in the tracking of perishable items (Chande, et al
However, in the service industry the supply chain may be optimized differently to ensure that the needed service supplies are always in stock without any real risk of stock-out. Supply chain management has become a complex and technology-driven discipline yet many leaders pay little attention to SCM as a strategic concern and hire individuals with little SCM training, which limits the organizations ability to use this function to improve the overall performance of the organization (Slone, Mentzer, & Dittmann, 2007)
While the service was started in 2006 to develop an evidently clear and straightforward process, it was largely criticized based on arguments that the $40 billion deal awarded to Boeing competitor and other companies should be scrapped. These companies were Northrop Grumman and its partner and European Aeronautic Defense, which is the parent of Airbus (Hedgpeth & O'Harrow, 2008)
Generally, federal contracts have constantly been plagued with procurement issues emerging from failure to comply with the requirements and rules of procurement. Actually, valuing cost certainty and low prices is one of the five major factors that plague Pentagon procurement processes (Greenwalt, 2013)
Administrative and Socioeconomic Framework Given the enormous amounts of money that are involved, the potential for correspondingly enormous savings through a more streamlined federal procurement process is clear. For instance, during the early 1990s, federal procurements for less than $100,000 required more than 3 months to complete compared to just 1 to 4 weeks in the private sector, and the federal government required more than 4 years to complete purchases of information technology compared to just over a year in the private sector (Farazmand, 2001)
A summary of the research and important findings are presented in the conclusion. Review and Discussion Legal Framework At present, federal procurement contracts are governed by a number of statutory and regulatory requirements, including the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) (Nou, 2009)
745). Socioeconomic Considerations Clearly, as the largest purchaser in the world, the United States federal government exerts tremendous socioeconomic influence domestically and abroad (Sparks & Wichmann, 2007)
The need for more vendors originates from the fact that not all vendors will meet the minimum requirements for the project. The next step involves compiling a list of possible vendors to seek for more information from (Bucki, n
An effective contract negotiation strategy should include list of priorities and alternatives, definition of constraints and benchmarks, and evaluation of probable liabilities and risks. Contract Evaluation and Legal Aspects of Procurement: As previously mentioned, the evaluation is an important step in contract management since contracts have become increasingly sophisticated, especially as more legislation continues to make the process more complex (Gandia, 2010)
Since the intention of legal consequences is presumed, the agreement doesn't have to necessarily state that the parties understand and intend the legal consequences. However, before entering an agreement or contract, the vendor should carefully examine whether he/she is legally capable of performing contractual obligations (Roberts, 2011)
The assessment of proposals begins after the presentation of documentation from the vendors. Some of the major steps for improving the assessment of the proposal include conducting three periodical vendor presentations, reviewing information from the presentations and summaries, and providing follow-up questions (Rumph, n
The vendor selection process is used to aid project managers in the effective procurement of essential items and services, with a rigorous screening methodology used to identify the most competent and qualified shipping companies, manufacturers, distributors, and equipment suppliers. Another way project managers have refined the procurement process is through the implementation of computer-based tools, with advances in technology enabling researchers to identify a project's critical path through a complex series of algorithms, software programs, and other advanced analytical tools (Morris & Pinto, 2007, pg
Although the advantages of using the internet and other computer-based resources to develop precise predictive models that enhance procurement practices have been widely established, there are a number of risks and concerns which must be considered before a project's likelihood of success can be inextricably linked to their use. By ranking these risk factors according to their potential impact on a project's ability to balance the triple constraint of scope, schedule, and budget, as well as their chances of occurring, one can objectively balance the merits of using computer-based procurement tools against the risks of this relatively novel innovation (Sollish & Semanik, 2011, pg
Moreover, purchasing plays a key liaison role between external suppliers and internal organizational customers in creating and delivering value to external customers." (Chen, Paulraj, and Lado, 2004, p
5) The outcome of trust is the belief of the firm that the other company will "perform actions that will result in positive outcomes for the firm as well as not take unexpected actions that result in negative outcomes." (Kwon, 2004, p
91) In fact, it was predicted that the source of competitive advantage in the next generation would be "the type of relationships that firms have with their suppliers" citing four reasons for this: (1) This change is being driven by marketers or sellers since firms have started customer-specific identification and needs and are catering to those needs meaning that a relationship with suppliers assists the firm to receive higher grade service and to be more efficient in the area of procurement; (2) secondly, firms will begin to recognize that relationships with suppliers will enable them in a higher level of effectiveness making it easier to implement strategies including quality platforms where the firm has relationships with their suppliers; (3) Third stated is that there are enabling technologies that assists the firms in selection of the best suppliers and customers enabled by computer programs that give firms the capability of calculating profitability of specific customers and suppliers; and (4) Fourth stated is that the "competition and growth of alliances will force firms to develop better supplier relationships to maintain a competitive edge." (Sheth, and Sharma, 1997, p
E-Procurement E-procurement or B2B (business-to-business) is "grounded in the strategic leveraging of both tangible/intangible assets for successful implementation and execution of electronic trade, resulting in significant financial benefits for firms." (Smith and Flanegin, 2004, p
This results in cost savings. The project manager's function is to coordinate project procurement with the necessary functions of the process (Crawford, 2014)
There are several levels of procurement, three of which include the project level, the business unit level, and the corporate level. In a project-based organization with project-based procurement, procurement occurs, as the title suggests, on the basis of the necessities required for each individual project (Lynch, n