Keep It Simple Procurement
There’s a clear trend across agencies right now: buy faster, be more efficient, cut the red tape. And to be fair, that makes sense. No one wants procurement to drag on longer than it needs to. Projects depend on timely decisions, and the pressure to deliver is real.
But in the push for efficiency, something else is happening. Processes are being shortened. Steps are being combined. And occasionally… corners are being cut.
We’re seeing more and more approaches designed to streamline procurement, fewer steps, less documentation, faster turnaround times, and more flexible engagement with the market. All good things, until efficiency starts to compete with probity in procurement. Because procurement isn’t just about buying quickly. It’s about buying in a way that aligns with the core probity principles – fair, transparent, accountable, and defensible. When shortcuts creep in, the real risk isn’t just a process issue, it’s reputational, particularly without strong probity governance.
Then there’s the language of procurement. Or more accurately… the alphabet soup. Depending on who you talk to, you might be running an EOI, ROI, RFI, RFP or RFT. And that’s before we even get into Early Contractor Involvement, Pre-Tenderer Interactions, Interactive Tender Processes, Gateway Panels, and the ever debatable Moderation Meetings versus Evaluation Meetings.
At some point, you start to wonder whether these are genuinely different processes, or just different ways of describing how we buy something. Because often, they’re variations on the same theme, engaging the market, assessing capability, and selecting a supplier. Every agency, every team, every practitioner seems to have their own language.
You might call it a Procurement Strategy, a Sourcing Plan, a Procurement Framework, a Commercial Framework, or an Acquisition Plan. But regardless of the label, the expectation doesn’t change. The process must be fair, giving all participants an equal opportunity. It must be transparent, clearly documented and explainable. It must be consistent, aligned with the stated approach. And it must be defensible, able to withstand scrutiny, particularly when supported by independent probity advisors and effective probity services.
Because suppliers don’t care what you call your process. They care whether they were treated fairly.
Innovation in procurement is a good thing. Streamlining is a good thing. But complexity isn’t just in the process, it’s in the language we wrap around it. And sometimes, in trying to sound sophisticated, we risk losing sight of what actually matters.
So whether it’s an EOI, ROI, RFT, or something with even more letters, the real question is simple: did we run a fair process aligned with relevant probity and governance requirements?
If the answer is yes, you’ve succeeded. If not, no amount of efficiency, or acronyms, will fix it.
Noble Shore helps organisations keep procurement simple, while ensuring alignment to probity principles , strong probity advice, and trusted probity services to protect decisions, people, and that reputations are never compromised.
