Functional Area: SCI Procurement Manual

Author: Jamie Meacham, Global Head of Programmatic Procurement

Approved by: Jim Ridgwick, Interim Supply Chain Director
Date of Approval 1st November 2019
Version: 2.0.1
Date for Review: October 2021
Languages (inc. hyperlinks): French, Spanish, Arabic
Applicable to: All SCI staff members

Table of Contents

1 Purpose and Application ..................................................................................................................................................3

2 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................................4
3 Procurement Minimum Standards: ................................................................................................................................6
4 Value for Money Statement.............................................................................................................................................6
5 Legal and Ethical Standards..............................................................................................................................................7
5.1 Transparency and Fairness .....................................................................................................................................7
5.2 Gifts and Entertainment ..........................................................................................................................................7
5.3 Conflict of Interest ...................................................................................................................................................8
5.4 Segregation of duties ..............................................................................................................................................9
5.5 Economic sanctions and terrorism financing .................................................................................................. 10
5.6 Modern Slavery ...................................................................................................................................................... 10
5.7 Export Control Laws ............................................................................................................................................ 11
5.8 Data Protection...................................................................................................................................................... 11
5.9 Child Safeguarding ................................................................................................................................................. 11
5.10 Fraud Awareness ................................................................................................................................................... 12
5.11 Sustainability............................................................................................................................................................ 13
6 Sourcing (selecting and contracting with a supplier) .................................................................................................... 13
6.1 Sourcing Pipelines .................................................................................................................................................. 13
6.2 Customised Sourcing Documents .................................................................................................................... 14
6.3 Stock Holding ......................................................................................................................................................... 14
6.4 Use of Existing Agreements ................................................................................................................................ 14
6.5 Standard Sourcing Thresholds ............................................................................................................................ 15
6.6 Humanitarian Sourcing Thresholds ................................................................................................................... 16
6.7 Sourcing Procedures ............................................................................................................................................. 16
6.8 Bid Solicitation: Minimum Days, Sealed Bids (Physical and Electronic) ................................................... 24
6.9 Minimum Bids ......................................................................................................................................................... 25
6.10 Evaluation Criteria ................................................................................................................................................. 25
6.11 Quality Checks & Site Visits................................................................................................................................ 26
6.12 Procurement Committees & Evaluation Committees ................................................................................. 27
6.13 Supplier Vetting ...................................................................................................................................................... 29
6.14 Negotiation ............................................................................................................................................................. 31
6.15 Financial Benefits Capture ................................................................................................................................... 31
6.16 Sourcing Outcomes............................................................................................................................................... 31
 6.17 Preferred Suppliers................................................................................................................................................ 37
6.18 FWA or Contract Approvals.............................................................................................................................. 38
6.19 Procurement File .................................................................................................................................................. 39
6.20 Procurement Waivers .......................................................................................................................................... 40
6.21 Note to file.............................................................................................................................................................. 41
6.22 IT Systems and Data Security ............................................................................................................................. 42
7 Purchasing (or ordering) .................................................................................................................................................. 42
7.1 Completing a Purchase Request ........................................................................................................................ 42
7.2 Purchasing from Preferred Suppliers and FWAs (Non-Fixed Price)......................................................... 44
7.3 Completing a Purchase Order or Contract .................................................................................................... 44
7.4 Recording Receipt of Goods/Services .............................................................................................................. 45
7.5 Submission of Procurement File ........................................................................................................................ 46
7.6 Repeat orders against a Contract ...................................................................................................................... 46
8 Order Management Procedures ................................................................................................................................. 47
8.1 Invoicing and Payment .......................................................................................................................................... 48
8.2 Closing Orders....................................................................................................................................................... 48
9 Supplier Management Procedures .............................................................................................................................. 49
9.1 Supplier Statuses .................................................................................................................................................... 49
9.2 Supplier Identification and Registration ............................................................................................................ 49
9.3 Supplier Database .................................................................................................................................................. 50
9.4 Price Survey / Market Assessment .................................................................................................................... 50
9.5 Database of Suspended Suppliers ...................................................................................................................... 51
10 Specialist Requirements................................................................................................................................................. 52
10.1 Construction........................................................................................................................................................... 52
10.2 Pharmaceutical / Healthcare ............................................................................................................................... 53
10.3 Cash Transfer Programming ............................................................................................................................... 53
10.4 Gift in Kind (GIK) .................................................................................................................................................. 54
10.5 Food .......................................................................................................................................................................... 55
10.6 Travel ........................................................................................................................................................................ 55
10.7 Humanitarian procurement ............................................................................................................................... 55
10.8 Bonding requirements .......................................................................................................................................... 55
10.9 External Workforce .............................................................................................................................................. 55
10.10 Insurance ................................................................................................................................................................ 56
11 Annex 1: Glossary of Terms ........................................................................................................................................ 57
 1 Purpose and Application

This document provides practical support on how to comply with Save the Children International’s (SCI)
‘Global Procurement Policy’, which sets out the minimum standards for the procurement of goods and
services.

This Manual overrides all Procurement Sections in existing logistics manuals and any other procurement
procedures in SCI.

To whom does this manual apply?

As with the Global Procurement Policy, the Procurement Manual applies to all SCI staff members
involved in the procurement of goods and services (primarily, but not exclusively to Supply Chain/
Procurement, Programs, Departmental Budget-holders and Finance). All Procurement staff should refer to
this Manual in their day-to-day work.

Breaches of procurement procedures are a serious matter and must be reported and investigated. Significant
or consistent breaches may be considered malpractice, and if discovered or suspected, will be dealt with in
line with SCI’s Code of Conduct and Fraud Bribery & Corruption Policy or other relevant policies, using the
appropriate disciplinary procedures.

What types of expenditure does the Manual apply to?

The Manual applies to all goods and services sourced from 3rd party suppliers including;

 Programmatic Spend e.g. construction, fleet, freight, pharmaceuticals, education, core-relief items.
 Indirect Spend e.g. office / program support spend (e.g. office rent, utilities, office stationery, travel,
insurance, IT, temporary labour, professional services (including audit))

The Manual applies to both Development and Humanitarian procurement but for humanitarian procurement
the Manual should be read in conjunction with the Global Procurement Manual – Humanitarian Annex.

The sub-award agreement between SCI and our implementing partners will set-out whether or not this
procurement manual applies to procurement undertaken by implementing partners as part of the sub-award
agreement.

How to read this Manual?

Directions given in this Manual use the following words to mean:
 MUST, SHALL, IS TO/ IS TO BE/ ARE TO BE and WILL mean that the practice is mandatory.
 SHOULD means that the practice is strongly recommended.
 MAY means that the practice is permissible but not required.

There is a Glossary of Terms (Annex 1) which includes the acronyms and abbreviations used in this
document.
 2 Introduction

Save the Children International (SCI) will source and purchase goods and services that provide good value
for money through procurement processes which are fair, competitive, transparent and in compliance with
donor rules and applicable laws.

SCI and its donors have specific rules relating to procurement, and before any commitment to spend with a
supplier is made, programs must check that they are compliant with the rules of their donor, as well as
adhering to all Save the Children global policies, procedures and standards (available in the Quality
Framework on OneNet).

SCI staff members must consult and comply with applicable laws and donor requirements set forth in the
Donor agreement and any annexes. Where there is a discrepancy between applicable law, donor and SCI
requirements, the more stringent rules will apply. For example, a donor may have a lower spend threshold
for a Tender process than SCI. In this case, the donor rules shall apply.

Please note that there are additional procedures that must be followed along with these procurement
procedures, notably:

 Construction Policy and Standards

 Pharmacy Handbook
 Cash Transfer Programming (CTP) Manual
 International Purchasing Procedure SCI_SC_GDP_PUR_PRC_001
 Verification of Medical Suppliers SCI_SC_GDP_PUR_PRC_002
 Purchasing from Global or Regional Medical Suppliers SCI_SC_GDP_PUR_PRC_003
 Gift in Kind Procedures
 Food Manual / Commodity Management tool kit

All of SCI’s Procurement Standards, Procedures, Guidelines Notes and Templates are available on the Supply
Chain Section of OneNet. [Link]

SCI has a training course for staff conducing procurement activities called Procurement Essentials. All staff
conducting procurement activities whether inside or outside of the supply chain function must complete the
Procurement Essential course and pass the Procurement Essentials Test. New staff must complete the
training and test within 3 months of joining SCI, existing staff must be re-certified as required (likely to be
every two years).

THIS DOCUMENT IS AN INTERNAL SCI DOCUMENT: NO WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS

ARE MADE AS TO ITS ACCURACY AND ANY EXTERNAL USE IS AT THE USER’S OWN RISK.

If ProSave is deployed within your CO, please refer to these Red ProSave Boxes for any special
considerations that need to be made in relation to the use of ProSave.
ProSave is the new global procurement system for Save the Children, which will be deployed to all SCI
offices by the Source to Pay project. When ProSave is implemented in an office, staff must source and buy
goods and services through the system. The system will also provide contract management and supplier
management functionality.

ProSave is interfaced with a supplier portal called the ‘Ariba Network’ that will enable SCI offices to send
electronic POs to suppliers and for suppliers to respond online to sourcing events. . Transacting through the
Ariba Network with suppliers will make our processes more efficient and enable us to capture key
information about our supplier base.

ProSave will be integrated to other global IT systems including Oracle HR (for staff names and roles for
procurement approvals), TIM (for warehouse goods receiving / receipting), and the Agresso Accounts
Payable module (for Finance staff to pay suppliers).

ProSave will provide staff with a number of benefits:

• A standardised and easy way to buy goods and services
• Drive use of negotiated contracts & FWAs
• Better supplier and contract data management
• Streamlined and systemised processes
• Removal of paper-based forms
• Automated approvals through the system, email or app
• Better compliance to supplier vetting requirements
• Improved internal controls
 3 Procurement Minimum Standards:

1. SCI resources Every SCI staff member is responsible for procuring goods, services and
construction works according to the SCI Global Procurement Policy and
Procurement Manual, donor requirements, applicable laws and the Value for Money
principles.
2. Donor All SCI staff members involved in the procurement process must adhere to the
Requirements procurement requirements of specific grant donor(s).
3. Ethical SCI strives to meet the highest ethical and professional standards in its interactions
Standards with suppliers and in compliance with all legal and ethical requirements.
Furthermore, SCI expects, and is legally obliged to ensure suppliers adopt similar
codes of conduct in their business dealings.
4.Supply Procurement can generate significant value and program impact by preparing
Strategies consolidated Procurement Plans, and a Sourcing Strategy prior to entering into
commercial interactions with suppliers.
The timely and accurate provision of supply requirements (including forecasts,
5.Supply
Requirements volumes, service levels and specifications) allows for proper planning of the supply of
goods and services and ensures that contracts / framework agreements reflect the
needs of the organisation.
6.Sourcing Procurement will take the lead in the sourcing (the process to select and contract
(Selecting a with a supplier) of goods and services using Procurement Committees and aligning
Supplier) closely with the requester. Therefore, tendering and negotiation of supplier
contracts are the responsibilities of Procurement.
However, in some situations this responsibility and accountability may be delegated
back to the business by Procurement.
Any sourcing that has been delegated must still follow this manual.
7.Purchasing / By following goods or service-specific ordering procedures, we will achieve
Ordering Goods improved Value for Money, manage risk and improve response times. SCI staff
and Services member must use existing Framework Agreements, contracts and suppliers, where
in place.
8. Managing Procurement manages the commercial relationship with suppliers.
Suppliers
9. Procurement Reliable audit trails (transaction history with evidence of approval) are required for
File Retention compliance, internal/external audits and other third party reviews.

4 Value for Money Statement

Save the Children International (SCI) is striving to achieve Value for Money from the financial resources and
budgets that are available to spend. Value for Money means optimising the effectiveness and efficiency of
our 3rd party supplier expenditure while achieving maximum economy. Effectiveness and efficiency in the
context of our supply will vary by spend area and business need, but typically includes quality, lead times,
service levels and risk management. Economy relates to the total cost or price of the goods and services.
This means sourcing “the lowest total cost product or service that meets the core business requirements and
essential criteria”. A practical implication of the above statement is that when SCI does not purchase the
lowest total cost option, it has to be clearly and objectively justified in the procurement file/documentation.

5 Legal and Ethical Standards

SCI’s Standard Contract / Framework Agreement (FWA) / PO Terms and Conditions impose a number of
legal requirements (in particular in the areas of economic sanctions, terrorism financing, export controls,
data protection, modern slavery and safeguarding) on our suppliers, so that our programs and offices are
compliant with laws and minimise the legal, financial and reputational risks. Any deviation from SCI’s Standard
Terms and Conditions is only permitted if in line with SCI’s Contracting SOP (here).
It is the responsibility of each SCI staff member to understand SCI’s global policies and follow the relevant
SCI’ Standard Terms and Conditions for the particular requirement in supply transactions, and to seek help
from the SCI Centre Legal Team when needed.

5.1 Transparency and Fairness

All procurement procedures and resulting documentation must demonstrate transparency with processes,
specifications and supplier selection criteria clearly defined and opportunities for SCI supply opportunities
being made sufficiently available to suppliers to ensure genuine competition.

All procurement procedures and resulting documentation must demonstrate fairness and non-discrimination
to suppliers. Suppliers should be treated equally to ensure fairness, without discrimination or favouritism by
any SCI employee. Treating suppliers fairly also involves giving them sufficient time to prepare bids and equal
access to information.

5.2 Gifts and Entertainment

SCI staff members involved in procurement activities must not solicit or accept any gifts or
offers of entertainment from current or prospective suppliers. (Global Procurement Policy –
Policy Statement 3.4)
Gifts and entertainment mean anything of value given or provided to you or a close relative or provided by
you to a third party in connection with your work for SCI. This will include but is not limited to: Supplier
products, Supplier branded clothing or other goods, tickets to sporting or cultural events, meals, discounts
(including reward points), loans, cash travel or transportation, favourable terms on products or services,
prizes, trips, hospitality events, shares, gift vouchers, invitations to conferences.

SCI staff members may collect air miles on travel completed in the execution of their work, but an individual
must not receive them as a gift or incentive in relation to the work they do for SCI (e.g. as a gift from an
airline) and must not base sourcing decisions on current air miles or the promise of receipt of future air
miles.

The standards relating to accepting gifts and entertainment are higher for those involved in procurement
activities, as they are stewarding significant SCI / donor financial resources. Receiving even a low-value gift or
entertainment may result in an unconscious bias, or being perceived as lacking personal integrity or judgment
and therefore should be declined.
Where a supplier related meal is required, SCI employees involved in procurement activities should pay for
all or part (at least their share) of the cost of the meal. Where a gift is received and where it is impractical to
return it, it must be declared and recorded using the Conflicts of Interest, Gifts and Hospitality Declaration
Form (SC-PR-21a) on SharePoint. The form must be approved by the line manager and sent to the Country
Supply Chain Lead to add to the Country Conflicts of Interest, Gifts and Hospitality Register (SC-PR-21b).
Subsequently the gift may be retained and utilised for general office purposes. The individual staff member
that received the gift must not get benefit from it. Refer to the Fraud, Bribery & Corruption Procedure
(here) for more details.
This standard does not apply to Gifts in Kind (GIKs) given for our beneficiaries or pro-bono services to SCI.

5.3 Conflict of Interest

A Conflict of Interest arises where an SCI staff member has a private or personal interest which may
compromise, or could be perceived to compromise, their ability to do their job. Conflicts may be of a
personal, financial or political nature.

To protect the integrity of SCI processes, it is important that all staff members, partners, and third parties
are transparent about any actual or perceived conflict of interest between any personal / private interest and
SCI’s work. SCI staff members must avoid and/or disclose any actual or perceived conflicts of
interest between the organisation and their own personal or financial interest. (Global
Procurement Policy – Policy Statement 3.3)

All staff members should immediately disclose any possible conflict of interest to their line manager or the
Procurement Committee as soon as it arises and the way forward should be decided accordingly. All
potential conflict of interest disclosures should be recorded in the Conflict of Interest, Gifts and Hospitality
Register (SC-PR-21b) maintained by the Country Supply Chain Lead using the Conflicts, Gifts and Hospitality
Declaration Form (SC-PR-21a) on SharePoint.
5.3.1 Post-Employment restriction
SCI staff members that have direct commercial dealings with suppliers, should not become employed by one
of those suppliers immediately upon leaving SCI (or during such period required by the SCI staff member’s
contract of employment after separation from their service with SCI). If an SCI staff member does leave SCI
for employment with a supplier, the staff member must disclose the ‘conflict of interest’ with their line
manager and the Country Supply Chain Lead as soon as possible, and before their last day of employment
with SCI.

5.3.2 Engagement with ex-staff members

If an ex-SCI staff member moves to a supplier, or an ex-supplier staff member moves to SCI they must not
take part in a sales process for SCI supply requirements for 6 months after employment (12 months if they
were involved in the Supply Chain/Procurement department). This is only permissible, if he/she has made a
prior disclosure of the conflict of interest and if the Procurement Committee approve their involvement. It
is recommended that such requests are not approved as they may not provide equal opportunity to all
bidders for a fair and open competition.
5.3.3 Supplier declarations
All suppliers who may have a potential conflict of interest with Procurement or other staff members working
in SCI, shall make declarations at the time of their bid submission. The disclosures made should be reviewed
by members of the Procurement Committee as early in the sourcing procedure as is feasible.

5.4 Segregation of duties

Segregation of duties is an internal control approach which reduces the possibility of committing fraud by
ensuring that one individual does not have control over too many processes.
The below table highlights segregations that we must ensure are in place in our processes.

Person Who: Should not be the sole person that:

Requests / needs an item and / or prepares a Approves the Purchase Order

Purchase Request

Runs the Sourcing Procedure (i.e. the Approves the Purchase Order or Contract/FWA
Sourcing Lead)

Selects the Supplier Approves the Purchase Order or Contract/FWA

Approves the Purchase Order Receives the goods/services i.e. approve a Goods Receipt Note or
Service Completion Note

Runs the Sourcing Procedure Receives the goods or services i.e. approve a Goods Receipt Note or
Service Completion Note
(i.e. the Sourcing Lead)

Receives the goods or services i.e. approve a Create payment request/Prepares the Payment Pack/Authorises the
Goods Receipt Note or Service Completion payment
Note

For more guidance please refer to the Supply Chain Country Office Operating Manual guidance. Link

5.4.1 Segregation of duties in the case of new or small Country and Field Offices
 For low cost and low complexity procurement activities the minimum number of staff for compliance
with the supply chain segregation of duties is two, and a new office unit should not open with less
than two members of staff.
 For more complex and high value procurement activities occurring in an opening office, supply chain
segregation of duties would spread across the opening office and the country office to ensure
compliance through the correct number of staff.
 5.5 Economic sanctions and terrorism financing
International sanctions regimes mean that SCI is prohibited from conducting any type of economic activity
with individuals, organisations and certain countries who are the subject of such sanctions. SCI is also
prohibited from providing money or other resources to organisations and individuals associated with
terrorism. At the date of this Manual, the following countries are currently Sanctioned Territories:

 Crimea region, Cuba, Iran; Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea and Syria.

What must you do to mitigate the risks?

 Before entering into any transaction with a supplier that is based in, or has offices in, any Sanctioned
Territory (see above), you must obtain clearance in writing from the SCI Centre Legal Team.
 Clearance is also required from the Centre Legal Team (legalcompliance@savethechildren.org) if the
product is manufactured in, or services provided out of a Sanctioned Territory, or if the goods are
being delivered into a Sanctioned Territory.
 Report any actual or suspected incidents of aid diversion or breach of sanctions or export controls
using DATIX (here).

Further information and useful links:

SCI’s Prohibited Transactions Policy (here)

SCI’s Prohibited Transactions Procedure (here)
SCI’s Contracting SOP (here)
Aid Diversion Procedure (here)

5.6 Modern Slavery

SCI is committed to preventing modern slavery (the practice of depriving a person of their freedom in order
to exploit them for commercial or personal gain) within its business and supply chains. We expect our staff
and suppliers to comply with our Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Policy (here).

What must you do?

 Ensure that you are aware of, and understand the policy, and where modern slavery and human
trafficking may be present in a supply chain.
 Before contracting with suppliers, you must ensure that you consider the risks of modern slavery in
dealing with suppliers as part of your risk assessments and due diligence. This might involve supplier
visits, independent research about the organisation and being aware of their recruitment practices. If
the industry is particularly susceptible to modern slavery (e.g. construction, manufacturing, textiles)
tailored due diligence should be conducted.
 Report any known or suspected incidents of modern slavery within SCI and within any of SCI’s
suppliers to your line manager, the Deputy Country Director or the Country Director or via the
Whistleblowing Hotline.
 For USAID and US Government funded programmes, there may be additional Donor Conditions in
relation to modern slavery and human trafficking, including producing a Compliance Plan and an
Annual Certification. Check the Legal Page here for guidance on the requirements in such awards.
 5.7 Export Control Laws
Export control laws restrict the export of certain items (goods, parts, software, data, and technology) from
one country (such as the UK, an EU Member State, or the US) to another (such as countries where SCI has
Regional Offices and Countries Offices).
It is SCI policy to comply with all applicable export control laws, including but not limited to those of the UK,
EU and the US.
What must you do?

 SCI cannot purchase any military items or any items that are destined for military end use in a
country subject to an arms embargo. Such items are defined as “Dual Use”.
 SCI cannot export any dual-use item from an EU Member State to a recipient outside the EU unless
the requisite licenses have been obtained.

5.8 Data Protection

As employees of SCI we are bound to follow the SCI Data Protection Policy. From a procurement
perspective there can be additional challenges that we face as in some situations we may store data belonging
to suppliers and in some instances suppliers may store data belonging to us.
What must you do?

 If you use a third-party supplier to process personal data on SCI’s behalf (e.g. CTPs and other
instances where beneficiary data is shared, HR software or other services where staff data is shared,
or any contract where a supplier has contact with beneficiaries) you should ensure that a contract or
FWA which includes the necessary data protection clauses is in place with the supplier, and the
supplier has agreed to adopt security measures to safeguard the personal data.
 You will need to take extra care to follow the data protection principles where you are processing
sensitive personal data, such as race/ethnicity, political opinion, religious beliefs, medical information
and records, genetic data and information about children.
 If in doubt, contact your legal focal point.

5.9 Child Safeguarding

What must you do?

 Familiarise yourself with the Safeguarding Children in Supply Chain Policy [Link]
 Ensure that you are aware of and understand each of the policies, and where any safeguarding risks
may be present in a supply chain.
 If the supplier is going to have direct contact with SCI’s beneficiaries (children and/or adults),
mandatory safeguarding training in each of the safeguarding areas must be conducted by the
safeguarding team. Examples include school bus drivers and security staff for our programs.
 Ensure that suppliers are aware of who to contact to report any safeguarding incidents, including
relevant Safeguarding Leads in the Country Office.
 If you become aware of, or suspect, an incident has occurred or might occur within SCI or its
suppliers, refer to relevant polices for the latest/most up to date reporting channel.
 5.10 Fraud Awareness

Fraud is an act of deception intended for personal gain or to cause loss to another party, even if
no gain or loss is in fact caused.

Prevention of fraud, bribery and corruption are key areas of focus for SCI. We must prevent these
throughout our work, and procurement is an area which can be particularly vulnerable given the value of the
spend stewarded.

Staff members dealing with procurement should be aware of indicators of fraud as stated in the Fraud,
Bribery and Corruption Policy. SCI has a zero tolerance policy towards fraud.

If you suspect that fraud is occurring within the procurement department you should use the DATIX
reporting tool to highlight the incident. Datix can be accessed at the following link
https://scirm.savethechildren.net/

Some examples of types of Procurement fraud are as follows (Note – this is not an exhaustive list):
 Collusion between suppliers; e.g. bid rotation / pooling whereby suppliers group together to rig
their bids to rotate who is awarded SCI’s business.
 Bid splitting; whereby the demand is split into multiple bids to pass it through a lower sourcing
threshold and therefore reduced due diligence oversight.
 Bid tailoring; whereby the Procurement Lead deliberately writes the bid documentation to tailor it
to specific supplier’s strengths.
 Price manipulation; whereby a supplier charges SCI a higher price than what was agreed in the
Contract / Framework Agreement.
 Product substitution; whereby SCI sources and pays for a certain specification, but the supplier
provides a lower / different specification.

Key red flags to be aware of may include, but are not limited to:

Supplier Related Staff Related

 Undisclosed conflict of interest.
 Winning suppliers subcontract to losing
bidders.
 The last supplier to bid wins the contract.
 Bids that look similar on paper, font,
color, spelling mistakes, printing etc.
(collusive bidding).
 Inflated invoices or purchase orders.
 The winning bid is higher than the market
rate.
 The winning bid is identical to the budget.
 Fictitious suppliers or suppliers with no
existence or physical address
 Rotational pattern of winning suppliers.
 Manipulation in evaluation criteria after bid opening to
award contract to a preferred supplier.
 Contracts awarded by sole source or non-competitive
process.
 Write off of large quantities of goods as scrap or
obsoletes.
 Requirements defined in a way that can only be met by a
certain manufacturer or supplier.
 Multiple purchase request initiated in close proximity for
similar requirements to avoid threshold limits.
 No segregation of duties i.e. identification & selection
suppliers is done by one staff member.
 Unreasonably narrow or broad specification.
  Partial delivery of goods or services
 Goods substitution where the quality of
items delivered differ from samples
provided/proposed at the bidding stage.
 Qualified contractors do not submit bids.
 Staff member not delegating his / her responsibilities or
refusal to go on vacations.
 No clear bid submission information.
 Inadequate documentation (no PR, PO, CBA and GRN).
 Overly friendly relationship between a supplier and a
Procurement Lead.
 Unusually high rate of waivers.
 Tender advertisement notices timed to coincide with
public holidays.

ProSave significantly reduces the risk of fraud through the systemisation of procurement and payment
processes which are much harder to bypass than manual processes. ProSave will also create an electronic
audit trail of all procurement activity; greatly improving visibility and control and deterring staff or suppliers
from committing fraud.

5.11 Sustainability
Sustainable procurement is an approach to Procurement that incorporates social, economic and
environmental impact considerations into the Procurement process to ensure that SCI is having the most
positive possible impact on the communities that we serve. To find out more about SCI’s policy in this area
please refer to the Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change (ESCC) policy. Link
What should you do?

 You should be aware of SCI’s ESCC policy linked above

 Engage with proposal developers to encourage them to include sustainable products/goals in
proposals.
 Work with programme colleagues to define specifications/products that do not rely on excessive
unrecyclable packaging or “single-use plastics”
o Give suppliers an option to propose alternative packaging as part of your tenders
 Consider evaluation criteria for tenders or RFQs which relate to sustainable procurement.
 Take notice of working conditions including labour rights and health safety and environmental
considerations when visiting supplier premises as part of due diligence.

6 Sourcing (selecting and contracting with a supplier)

6.1 Sourcing Pipelines

Sourcing activity should not be started by a Purchase Request, it should be started by a completed Sourcing
Pipeline.

A Sourcing Pipeline is a plan used to write down sourcing requirements over a rolling 12 month period. The
sourcing pipeline summarises the predicted sourcing events which the Procurement department will run.
Sourcing Pipelines should be created by using available data sources (consolidated procurement plans,
budgets, emergency preparedness planning materials, procurement trackers, historic spending) to predict as
accurately as possible the future demand.

The Sourcing Pipeline tool should be used Sourcing Pipeline (SC-PR-20) to create a sourcing pipeline. Please
refer to the Supply Chain SharePoint page for further training materials and guides on Sourcing Pipelines.

It is required that each procurement department in a country office has an up to date Sourcing Pipeline
covering all country demand which is saved on SharePoint and approved by the Regional Procurement
Manager. (If SharePoint is not available the Sourcing Pipeline should be emailed on a quarterly basis).
Sourcing pipelines should account for over 80% of spend within a country office.

The Sourcing Pipeline should be presented to the Country SMT once per year and signed-off by the Country
Operations Director, Country Head of Supply Chain and Country Director.

6.2 Customised Sourcing Documents

SCI sources for a wide variety of goods and services which often require specific tools, templates, tender
documents and evaluation criteria.
To help country offices to source as effectively as possible, sets of category specific sourcing documents have
been created for key categories. This includes tailored ITT documents, evaluation criteria and examples of
benefit approval forms (BAFs) specific to each of the categories. To download the latest version of these
documents please visit the procurement section of the SharePoint page. Procurement OneNet Page

6.3 Stock Holding

Prior to sourcing or forecasting volume, the Procurement Lead must consider stock holdings, especially in
the case of IT equipment or laptops that are available in inventory, as an alternative to new sourcing. In some
cases, approval may be required from the relevant donor for the utilisation of unused goods from other
programs.

6.4 Use of Existing Agreements

As per the Global Procurement Policy (policy statement 7.2), SCI staff members must use existing
Framework Agreements, contracts and Preferred suppliers, where in place. Global and regional
Framework Agreements are accessible to purchase from / order from on OneNet (see the “International
Supply Catalogue”).

Global and Regional Framework Agreements and Contracts will be accessible to order from in ProSave.

To request an exception from this mandatory requirement (for example, where a donor requires SCI to
source from a particular supplier), the justification must be provided by the Country Supply Chain Lead in
the form of an email to the relevant Global Category Lead and Regional Supply Chain Lead who will facilitate
approval or rejection of this request from the relevant internal business owner. Please note for Cash
Transfer requirements, follow the process outlined in the Cash Transfer manual.
 6.5 Standard Sourcing Thresholds
The following criteria must be applied to decide on the Sourcing Procedure to follow:
 Total value of the goods and services that are requested from the supply market.
 Total value of all the resulting Contract(s) or Framework Agreement(s); not just the annual amount.
 This may or may not be the same as the total value of goods or services listed on the Purchase
Request.
Please note - you do not need a Purchase Request to start a Sourcing Procedure – you can launch sourcing
procedures based on predicted future demand in a Sourcing Pipeline or as part of preparedness activities.

FWAs should be established to meet the needs of planned and ad hoc demand across multiple programs,
offices and countries for a defined period. Purchases or demand must not be split to avoid a certain Sourcing
Procedure. Splitting purchases to avoid doing the relevant sourcing procedures is deemed as misconduct
and will be subject to relevant disciplinary actions.

The table below sets out the Standard Sourcing Thresholds which define the Sourcing procedure to be
followed for each threshold of spend as required for SCI programs and office/departments.

These thresholds will be used to determine the correct Sourcing Procedure for all SCI
countries, regions and global procurement.

Sourcing Procedure Standard Sourcing Threshold

Open Tender $100,001
Formal Quotations (min. 3) $10,001 - 100,000
Simple Quotations (min. 3) $1,001 - 10,000
Single Quotation (min. 1) $101 - 1,000
Cash & Receipt $0 – 100

These are the maximum allowable thresholds. In certain circumstances, a country or region may request a
lower local threshold variation (“Country / Regional Sourcing Thresholds”). A justification must be provided
to the Regional Supply Chain Lead and the Global Head of Procurement for approval. Thresholds adaptation
must consider key parameters such as corruption index of the country, maturity of local market, internal
capacity and volumes of the operations. After gaining approvals, the Country or Region should update and
share a local version of Annex 2: Procurement Delegations/Approvals

Exceptions or Waivers to procedures (for example undertaking a Formal Quotation Procedure instead of an
Open Tender) can only be made in the circumstances outlined in the Section 6.7.6: Open Tenders
Exceptions or the Section 6.20: Procurement Waivers.

Once a sourcing outcome (Contract, FWA or a PO) is in place, purchases must also be authorised under
the Financial Scheme of Delegation (see Finance Procedures on OneNet); as this represents an SCI spend
commitment to the supplier.
 6.6 Humanitarian Sourcing Thresholds
In the case of some Humanitarian emergencies, the sourcing thresholds (value) and time required to
advertise sourcing procedures can be varied. Refer to the SCI Procurement Manual – Humanitarian
Appendix for more details.

6.7 Sourcing Procedures

The below diagram outlines the SCI Sourcing Procedures which must be followed for each threshold level.
The below process flow outlines the Sourcing Procedures for the Standard Sourcing Thresholds. If a country
or region has agreed an exception to the Standard Sourcing Thresholds, then the approved Country /
Regional Sourcing Thresholds should be used to determine the appropriate Sourcing Procedure.

Please complete the below diagram with agreed country thresholds (normally the same as the
global maximums) and print out the diagram to display in country offices.

The following Sections outline the detailed Sourcing Procedures to follow for each spend threshold.
6.7.1 Cash & Receipt (No Quotation Procedure) (global threshold < $100)
For low value goods or services bought with petty cash, it is not necessary to use a Purchase Request or
Purchase Order. A cash advance (or Petty cash) can be requested from the Finance department, using a Cash
Advance Request form (see SCI Country Finance Manual).

It is not recommended that goods for ongoing use (for example; office stationary, pantry consumables,
printer consumables, catering,) are purchased using the cash and receipt procedures. If annual purchases of
similar products are in excess of the simple quotation procedure threshold then a framework agreement
should be put in place if possible within market constraints.

In all cases, the procurement cannot be carried out without advance authorisation from the Budget Holder.
Programs should refer to the SCI Country Office Finance Manual held on the SCI SharePoint for more information, and
abide by their country cash advance procedures.

6.7.2 Single Quotation Procedure (min. 1) (global threshold $101 - $1,000)

If a Single Quotation Procedure (min. 1) is required then the following procedure applies:

1. A single quotation must be obtained from at least one supplier on the Supplier Database. Preferred
Suppliers must be used as a preference. If there are no Preferred Suppliers, then Registered Suppliers
should be invited to quote. See Section 6.17: Preferred Suppliers and Section 9.1: Supplier Statuses.
2. If there is no supplier on the database then suppliers must be identified and then registered from the
open market and added to the Supplier Database.
3. The Procurement Lead undertaking the procurement must recommend the supplier, based on their
quotation, to the Program Manager or Budget Holder.
4. The Program Manager or Budget Holder approves/rejects the recommendation (this can be done by
email).
5. Prior to order placement, supplier vetting is required, as described in Section 6.13: Supplier Vetting.
6. A Framework Agreement, Contract (SC-C-02), or a Purchase Order (SC-PR-13) with the relevant
standard SCI Terms & Conditions must be completed by the Procurement Lead and approved as per
the SOD as described below in Section 6.18: FWA or Contract Approvals and Section 7.3: Completing
a Purchase Order or Contract.
 Process

1. Instead of using the excel Supplier Database, suppliers can be found within ProSave which will contain all
existing suppliers an office uses. If the supplier is not in ProSave, then a Supplier Request Form should be
completed in ProSave to initiate the Supplier Set-Up process.
2. After the Supplier Set-Up process has started the single quotation procedure can be carried out. Once
received, the quotation must be uploaded into ProSave.
3. The supplier will be vetted as part of the Supplier Set-Up process. Once the supplier has passed vetting, a
PO can be raised in ProSave.

Please refer to the ProSave User Guide for more information.

6.7.3 Simple Quotation Procedure (min. 3) (global threshold $1,001 – $10,000)

If a Simple Quotation Procedure is required then the following procedure applies:

1. The Procurement Lead must obtain at least 3 quotations from suppliers on the Supplier Database.
2. Preferred Suppliers must be used as a preference. If there are no Preferred Suppliers, then Registered
Suppliers should be invited to bid. See Section 6.17: Preferred Suppliers and Section 9.1: Supplier
Statuses.
3. If there is no supplier on the database then a supplier should be identified from the open market and it
must be added to the Supplier Database by Procurement.
4. Once quotations are obtained, the Procurement Lead must analyse the quotations against price,
quality, lead times using a Competitive Bid Analysis or email and should make a supplier
recommendation.
5. The Program Manager or Budget Holder approves/rejects the recommendation (this can be done by
email).
6. Prior to order placement, supplier vetting is required, as described in Section 6.13: Supplier Vetting.
7. A Framework Agreement (FWA), Contract (SC-C-02) or a Purchase Order (SC-PR-13) with the
standard SCI Terms & Conditions must be completed by the Procurement Lead and approved as per
the SOD as described in Section 6.18: FWA or Contract Approvals and Section 7.3: Completing a
Purchase Order or Contract
Note: - In case of Single or Simple Quotation Procedures, prices stated online on supplier websites or other
authentic websites (e.g. Amazon) can be printed and considered as a quotation, using the print-screen
functionality but clearly showing the web address, picture and price display, and date. The supplier’s websites
to be considered shall be for only those Suppliers that have been entered in the Supplier Database. Approval
must be obtained from the Country Head of Supply Chain for the authentic websites that can be considered
for online price comparisons in the country. Online quotations should not be considered for high value
sourcing procedures (i.e. Formal Quotation & Tender processes)

Instead of using the excel Supplier Database, suppliers can be found within ProSave which will contain all
existing suppliers an office uses. If the supplier is not in ProSave, then a Supplier Request Form should be
completed in ProSave to initiate the Supplier Set-Up process.

After the Supplier Set-Up process has started the simple quotation procedure can be carried out. Once
received, the quotations must be uploaded into ProSave.

The supplier will be vetted as part of the Supplier Set-Up process. Once the supplier has passed vetting, a PO
can be raised in ProSave.

Please refer to the ProSave User Guide for more information.

6.7.4 Formal Quotation Procedure (global threshold $10,001 – $100,000)

If a Formal Quotation Procedure is required then the following procedure applies:
 1. A Procurement Committee must be set up to approve the evaluation criteria and suppliers to
invite to quote.
The Request for Quotation form (RFQ) (SC-PR-10) or a more detailed document for complex goods
and services should be sent to suppliers on the Supplier Database. Preferred Suppliers must be used as
a preference. If there are no Preferred Suppliers, then Registered Suppliers should be invited to bid.
The RFQ provides a standard format for suppliers and can be used for any procurement that is going
through a quotation process. It sets out the program’s or departmental requirements and outlines
information that the suppliers need to provide to make comparison and selection of suppliers easier
e.g. quality, quantity, price and delivery timeframe etc.
2. The response from the suppliers should be returned as a signed form, on official headed paper or with
an official stamp in sealed envelopes (see Section 6.8: Bid Solicitation- Sealed Bids for details). SCI
must give suppliers a minimum of 5 working days to respond to such quotation requests.
3. The Procurement Committee must select the winning supplier and document the decision using
the Competitive Bid Analysis (CBA) template as stated in Section 6.12: Procurement Committee.
4. Due diligence checks should be conducted against bidders prior to selecting the winning supplier as
described in Section 6.10: Due Diligence Checks. In case the RFQ is sent to preferred suppliers who
already have gone through a screening criteria or due diligence checks, it is not necessary to re-
perform due diligence procedures unless the situation warrants.
5. Prior to order placement, supplier vetting is required, as described in Section 6.13: Supplier Vetting.
6. A Framework Agreement (FWA), Contract (SC-C-02), or a Purchase Order (SC-PR-13) with the
relevant standard SCI Terms & Conditions must be completed by the Procurement Lead and approved
as per the SOD as described in Section 6.18: FWA or Contract Approvals and Section 7.3: Completing
a Purchase Order or Contract

The Formal Quotation procedure will be completed in the Sourcing module in ProSave, making the process
simpler. The Sourcing Manager will be guided through phases and tasks to help them complete the event and
award a supplier.

Sourcing Managers will be able to receive online bids from suppliers who are on the Ariba Network orfrom
suppliers who are not on the Ariba Network by following the as-is process.

Sourcing Managers can create Contracts and FWAs from the Sourcing Project once it has been completed.

Please refer to the ProSave User Guide for more information.

6.7.5 Open Tender Procedure (global threshold $100,001)
We no longer have two separate procedures for International and National Tenders to reflect the reality that there is no
link between spend value and the need for an international tender. Low-value purchases may require international
supply and high-value purchases may only require national suppliers.

If an Open Tender Procedure is required then the following procedure applies. Note that each tender should
be designed to specifically meet the requirements of the supply in question.

The below procedures should be followed to conduct an Open Tender Procedure:

1. Country Supply Chain lead or delegate should contact the Regional Procurement Unit to ask for
examples or templates of good practice tender documents and consult the relevant category page on
the Procurement SharePoint site for example materials. Link
2. A Procurement Committee must be set up to agree the objectives for the sourcing, the
evaluation criteria, weightings and timetable. They should also agree if any suppliers should be
specifically notified about the tender.
3. The Tender Pack (SC-PR-12) must be compiled with special attention paid to turning each of the
tender criteria of purchase into specific questions for the supplier to complete in the ‘Bidder
Response Document section of the ITT’.
4. You MUST select the correct contracting template to issue with the ITT. For tenders of standard
goods you must use the long-form contracting template available on OneNet, there are category
specific templates for contracting on OneNet which we must use - Refer to the Guidelines to the
Contracting Templates table for further information Link
5. The Tender Pack must be submitted to the Regional Procurement Unit for approval and posting on
the SCI website. Please allow 2-3 days for the RPU and/or Centre to provide feedback – if you have
used available Sourcing Best Practice materials this review will be quicker.
6. Advertisement for tenders, should be placed in at least two leading nationwide newspapers (English
or local languages) and/or any relevant supplier-specific websites.
7. After the deadline for tender document submissions, the bid opening process should be conducted as
per Section 6.8: Bid Solicitation- Sealed Bids. It is optional to request two separate sealed envelopes
for Commercial and Capability (or Technical) proposals from competing suppliers. Those who pass
the minimum Capability evaluation criteria i.e. both the Criteria & preferred should be then
 considered for the Commercial evaluation (this is the frequently used for construction
procurement).
8. The Procurement Lead must co-ordinate the Procurement Committee (or Evaluation Committee if
created) in order to evaluate the supplier bids against the pre-agreed essential, capability and
commercial criteria as mentioned in Section 610: Evaluation Criteria. The Competitive Bid Analysis
(CBA) template must be used to analyse the bids. However, it is advisable that for more complex
sourcing events, an analysis table is built based on the essential and preferred criteria, with weightings
allocated to each requirement.
9. Prior to order placement, supplier vetting is required, as described in Section 6.13: Supplier Vetting.
10. It is mandatory to identify and record the benefits achieved from the sourcing procedure as per the
Procurement Benefits Methodology.
11. A Framework Agreement (FWA), Contract (SC-C-02), or a Purchase Order (SC-PR-13) with the
relevant standard SCI Terms & Conditions must be completed by the Procurement Lead and approved
as per the SOD as described in Section 6.18: FWA or Contract Approvals and Section 7.3: Completing
a Purchase Order or Contract.

Please note that a desired outcome from a tender process can also be the nomination of a Preferred
Supplier(s). See below Section 6.17: Preferred Suppliers.

Process

The Open Tender procedure will be completed in the Sourcing module in ProSave, making the process
simpler. The Sourcing Manager will be guided through phases and tasks to help them complete the event and
award a supplier..
Sourcing Managers will be able to receive online bids from suppliers who are on the Ariba Network or from
suppliers who are not on the Ariba Network by following the as-is process..
Sourcing Managers can create Contracts and FWAs from the Sourcing Project once it has been completed.

Please refer to the ProSave User Guide for more information.

6.7.6 Open Tender Exceptions

Exceptions from Open Tender Procedures in this Section do not fall under the definition of Waivers and
should be considered as allowable procedures documented, with justification, in the CBA and approved by
the Procurement Committee.
Prior approval should be obtained from the relevant donors in case it is required by the Grant Agreement or
donor rules. For any specific case, it is the responsibility of the Requester (within the program) to check
whether the Open Tender Exceptions are compliant with the donor procedures (either by themselves or
through consultation with Awards/the Member donor management team).

6.7.6.1 Case 1: Preferred Suppliers

If there is a list of Preferred Suppliers maintained after a competitive Formal Quotation or Open Tender
process there is no need to re-tender for similar goods or services for a time frame of 2 years at CO level
and 3 years at Region or Centre level. The FWA, Contract or PO can be awarded after a Simple Quotation
Procedure (i.e. 3 quotations) among the Preferred Suppliers. See below Section 6.17: Preferred Suppliers.

6.7.6.2 Case 2: Open Tender Exceptions (limited national supply base)

In certain situations, an Open Tender Procedure may result in the duplication of efforts for sourcing the
required goods or services when there is limited competition in the supply market. Subject to the condition
that an Open Tender has been completed in the last 6 months and it has been concluded by Procurement
Committee that there are less than3 suppliers in the entire market to provide similar goods or services, then
a Formal Quotation Procedure can be used.

For the following categories of spend an Open Tender is not required and only Formal Quotation Procedure
will suffice utilities, internet service providers, fuel, rent/property leasing, hotels/guesthouses,
restaurants and livestock.

6.8 Bid Solicitation: Minimum Days, Sealed Bids (Physical and Electronic)

Each sourcing procedure provides a minimum amount of calendar days that a bid should be advertised for to
ensure that suppliers are given enough time to respond to the sourcing procedure. The number of days is
listed below.

Sourcing Procedure Number of calendar days to be advertised

Single or Simple Quotation 0 (but suggest to leave 2-3 days to get enough quotes
Formal Quotation 5 calendar days (excluding public holidays)
Open Tender 21 calendar days (excluding public holidays)

The practice of ensuring suppliers bids remain sealed prior to bid opening is designed to ensure transparency
and fairness in our sourcing procedures. The following practices must be adopted when running sourcing
procedures using sealed bids.

Practice Physical process Electronic Process

Suppliers must submit CO must have a locked tender box which CO must create a specific email
RFQ or Tender suppliers can post bid responses into account to receive responses (e.g.
responses in a way that “Niger_Procurement_01”,
they cannot be viewed “Niger_Procurement_02” etc.)
whilst the response
window is open
CO should ensure that The tender box key should sit with chair of IT should restrict access to the
the bids cannot be the Procurement Committee whilst the bid email account during the bid
tampered with. is open or Head of Supply Chain window and only allow access (to 2
Procurement Committee
members) once the bid has closed.
Upon completion of the 2 Procurement Committee members (or 2 Procurement Committee
bid window 2 members their delegates) open the locked tender box members (or their delegates) are
of the evaluation or together and record the names of the given access to the mailbox at the
Procurement suppliers that have bid. same time and they record the
Committee should names of the suppliers that have
record the supplier bids bid.
received on the Bid
Opening and
Committee Declaration
Form (SC-PR-12d

6.9 Minimum Bids

The minimum number of bids required is one for a Single Quotation and three for all other types of
Quotation and Open Tenders.

If the Sourcing Procedure results in fewer than the minimum number of bids required, the Procurement Lead
should investigate the rationale and extend or re-launch the sourcing procedure. If for formal quotations and
tenders there are only two bids then the procurement committee should approve this in writing.

If there is only one bid for formal quotation or tender procedures then the sourcing lead should either

1. Restart the Sourcing Procedure again

2. Complete a Procurement Process Waiver for sole source supply

6.10 Evaluation Criteria

Evaluation Criteria are required for all Formal Quotation and Open Tender Procedures. Due diligence checks
should be done prior to the award of a FWA, Contract or PO and is a mandatory process for filtering out
competing suppliers, following these steps:

1) A Procurement Committee is created beforehand to approve the evaluation (or scoring) criteria. Prior
approval on the evaluation criteria is required before bid opening of suppliers, however best practice is
to agree and communicate the criteria to all competing suppliers in the bidding documents i.e.
tenders/RFQs.
2) There are 3 types of criteria to define: Essential, Commercial and Capability
3) Essential criteria is defined as criteria that a supplier must meet to continue to be considered for the
award of the supply. Failing to meet any essential criteria should result in exclusion from the remainder
of the sourcing procedure. At a minimum, the essential criteria should include:
  That the bidder has legitimate business / official premises, or that they are registered for trading
and tax as appropriate.
 That the bidder agrees to comply with our mandatory policies.
 The bidder confirms they are not a prohibited party under applicable sanctions laws or anti-
terrorism laws or provide goods under sanction by the United States of America or the European
Union and accepts that SCI will undertake independent checks to validate this.
 They must provide goods or services which meet the minimum specifications standards for our
needs.
For the avoidance of doubt vetting must be undertaken after the completion of a sourcing event and
prior to the awarding of a PO, Contract or FWA to validate the Suppliers statements in relation to the
Essential Criteria.
There will most likely be other compulsory Essential criteria based on the specific requirement and
supply market dynamics.
4) Commercial Criteria is defined as the criteria which cover all financial aspects of a supplier’s
response including pricing, rebates, free services, discounts etc. The minimum weighting for
standardized goods / services for Commercial Criteria is 50% of the total scoring. For non-
standardized goods / services it is 40% of the total scoring.
a. In case of variations on the minimum Commercial criteria weighting, this must be pre-agreed
by the Procurement Committee prior to bid opening.
5) Capability Criteria is defined as the criteria which cover all the qualitative aspects of a supplier’s
response including quality, service, lead times, capacity, financial health, business alignments and other
technical attributes. The maximum weighting for standardized goods / services for Commercial
Criteria is 50% of the total scoring. For non-standardized goods / services it is 60% of the total scoring.
 Including sustainability criteria related to social, economic or environmental considerations is
good practice.
6) It is recommended that a high-level summary of the Commercial and Capability evaluation criteria for
bids should be communicated by RFQ/tender documents to all of the suppliers to encourage equal
competition. All Essential evaluation criteria must be communicated by RFQ / tender documents to all
suppliers to ensure they can confirm they meet the requirements.

The criteria and scoring parameters for Essential, Capability and Commercial criteria should be
evaluated by the Procurement Committee depending on the local context and nature of goods or services
required. If required, the Procurement Lead or Procurement Committee members may conduct site
inspections and physically verify legitimacy of the suppliers. The Competitive Bid Analysis (CBA) template
should be used to score / present evaluations for both Essential, Commercial and Capability criteria.

6.11 Quality Checks & Site Visits

In situations where product quality is a significant factor in supplier due diligence, additional measures such as
warehouse / manufacturing site inspections, sampling and/or testing of products and quality check reports
may be prepared and documented in the Procurement Committee minutes prior to awarding a FWA,
Contract or Purchase Order.

Similarly, the Procurement Team should consider whether the supplier industry is particularly susceptible to
modern slavery and human trafficking and, if so, may consider a site visit to check for red flags in this regard.
Minutes and other documentation from any visits should be added to the Procurement File. Quality checks
should be conducted by an appropriately qualified specialist, depending on the nature of goods or services
e.g. a Pharmacist for pharmaceutical goods, IT expert for communication equipment, construction engineer
for construction etc.

Red Flags during supplier site visits

 Poor quality health and safety conditions
 Lack of personal protective equipment
 Restricted access from some areas with no good reason
 Lack of fire exists or fire extinguishers
 The holding of workers identity documents
 The withholding of pay for long periods of times
 Workers living on site/controlled by employers.
 Lack of appropriate waste disposal procedures for production by-products
 Lack of functioning quality management systems
 Workers are not being paid on time
 Poor storage conditions for work in progress or finished products

6.12 Procurement Committees & Evaluation Committees

A Procurement Committee must be established to select the winning suppliers for all Formal Quotation and
Tender Procedures. The Procurement Committee must be nominated prior to initiation of a tender or formal
quotation process by the respective head of each relevant department. It is good practise to rotate the
membership of the Committee. An Evaluation Committee may be set-up as a sub-committee of the
Procurement Committee to conduct the evaluation process (i.e. reviewing the submissions and completing the
CBA). An evaluation committee is not mandatory – a procurement committee can do all the evaluation tasks
listed below.

Procurement Committees conduct three critical activities;

1. Must confirm the evaluation criteria used for an RFQ or Tender before it is launched
2. Must decide the members of the evaluation committee (if an evaluation committee is being created).
3. Must review and approve / reject completed competitive bid analysis and ensure that our process
have been followed and the goods we are buying meet our needs and represent value for money.

All procurement committee and evaluation committee meetings should have either;
a. An email outlining the actions/minutes sent to all committee members who reply “Approved”.
Emails should be saved as part of the procurement file or
b. A word documented with written down minutes from the meeting which is printed and signed
by all committee members. The document should be scanned and saved for the procurement
file.
6.12.1 Procurement Committee Membership
The Procurement Committee should be arranged by the Sourcing Lead (who is the person running the
Sourcing Procedure). The Sourcing Lead cannot be on the Procurement Committee.

The Procurement Committee must have 3 members who have voting rights covering the following roles:
 Business Owner (mandatory voting member); the ultimate recipient or user of the supply or
the Budget Holder (preferred designation) who should assess the suitability of the product/service
offered (typical areas of evaluation focus are delivery times, service levels, quality, key personnel).
 Supply Chain / Procurement (mandatory voting member): to verify the procurement
procedure used and to oversee the commercial aspects of the evaluation (typical areas of evaluation
focus are compliance to terms and conditions, price, total cost, supplier performance
incentives/penalties). For the avoidance of doubt, this is not the Procurement staff member leading the
sourcing process.
 Finance / Awards (mandatory voting member); to verify the budget availability and stewardship
of SCI financial resources (typical areas of evaluation focus are risk, budgets, financial resources,
supplier financial health).

Other people may join the procurement committee as non-voting members to provide advice and guidance.
 Technical Owner the subject matter expert for this category of spend and the custodian / owner of
the specifications, standards or the functional lead (typical areas of evaluation focus are quality,
conformance to specifications and protocols, innovation, supplier capacity and reliability). The
technical owner provides input and guidance to the business owner to allow them to make a decision.
 Other advisory members there may be a need to have additional individuals attending the
Procurement Committee meeting depending on the complexity of the goods or services or to provide
additional expertise. There is no limit to the number of people who can come to the Procurement
Committee meetings but only 3 core members vote to make decisions.

It is advisable to link the seniority of the Procurement Committee to the Financial SOD approval likely to
result from the conclusion of activities.

6.12.2 Evaluation Committee membership

If used, the Evaluation Committee must have at least 2 members nominated by the Procurement Committee
to conduct the actual evaluation of the submitted quotes or bids. The results should then be presented to
the Procurement Committee who must challenge the evaluation, check selected sections of the CBA and
approve or reject the final recommendation.
The Evaluation Committee may consist of any 2 of the following:
1. The Sourcing Lead (typically should evaluate the Essential Criteria and the Commercial Criteria)
2. The Technical Owner (typically should evaluate the Capability Criteria)
3. Other (representative from Finance, Awards or other functions depending on the situation).

The Evaluation Committees can conduct the following activities (if agreed by the procurement committee)

 Conduct the bid opening process and record all bids received
 Co-ordinate the signing of the committee declaration form
 Evaluate the supplier bids and complete the CBA
6.12.3 Award Decision/Recommendation
Evaluation Committees must review the submitted supplier quotations / bids against the pre-agreed Evaluation
criteria and prepare a recommendation for the Procurement Committee. The recommendation must be
documented on the Competitive Bid Analysis (SC-PR-11) (CBA) and signed off by all members of the
Procurement Committee. If the Budget Holder is not on the Procurement Committee, the recommendation,
in the form of the CBA and any meeting minutes, must be further approved by the Budget Holder as per the
Scheme of Delegation.

The CBA can be tailored to the specific needs of the procurement in order to facilitate a fair comparison of
the supplier proposals. The Procurement Committee may sit on the day of bid opening or another defined
day to review each shortlisted bid against the evaluation criteria and then make a final documented decision.
For all meetings the Sourcing Lead must take minutes.

6.13 Supplier Vetting

SCI must not sign a PO, Contract, or FWA with a supplier until they have received a Vetting
Clear Reference Number from the vetting team confirming that the supplier has cleared the
vetting process.

Vetting is a process by which the details of all suppliers and their key staff are checked to ensure that these
individuals and entities do not have any connection with sanctioned or terrorist organisations and have not
committed or been implicated in any terrorism or other financial crimes.

Supplier details have to be sent for vetting or the vetting team contacted by email
atcompliance@savethechildren.org in any of the following instances:
 New supplier: Before engaging or entering into a Purchase Order, Contract or FWA with a supplier.
 Changed supplier details: If supplier information has changed. For example, if the name of the
supplier or their key staff have changed. In this case, include details of the original vetting request and
how the information has changed, so that the vetting team can identify the correct records and update
them accordingly.
 Stopped working with supplier: If you have stopped working with a supplier and do not foresee
working with the supplier in the near future. Please provide a reason why you have stopped working
with that supplier. The vetting team will deactivate the supplier in the vetting system and update their
records accordingly.

To vet a new supplier, the Procurement Lead needs to send the following information by email to
compliance@savethechildren.org:
 Name of the company / entity as it appears on the registration documents
 Name of at least one key staff member* as it appears on their identification document
 Date of birth (DD/MM/YY) or year of birth of that key staff member.

 If the supplier is an individual supplier, entrepreneur or a consultant provide their full and correct
name as it appears on their identification document and their date of birth.
*Key staff are the 1- 3 key individuals who exercise a decision-making role over the finances of the
organisation and the particular supply transaction in question. Key staff, whom you must provide details for
vetting, usually are the CEO and owners. To find out who those directors / individuals are, you will need to
discuss with the supplier, and then submit the relevant details for vetting.

Please note that the vetting team will process the shared data as received. The Vetting Team will take no
responsibility for missing potential matches on misspelled or inaccurate records. Make sure that the spellings
of the submitted names are correct and written as stated in an official ID or registration document.

It is important that you assign enough time for the vetting process to be completed, particularly if additional
information is required from the supplier or additional checks on the supplier are required from the vetting
team. If your request is related to a humanitarian response, mark it as “URGENT” and write the response
category level in the subject line of the email. Your request will be responded to within one working day.

Response time for non-urgent and development requests is 3 working days (this may be longer if you are
submitting lists of suppliers, longer than 50 names in one request).

Note that these are response times only and not a guarantee of the Supplier passing the vetting process within
these timeframes.

Keep the record of the received Vetting Clear Reference Number (VCRN) in your procurement tracker,
supplier database and on the Invoice Payment Authorisation Form, when you are paying a supplier.

When collecting the information for vetting, the supplier must be informed that this data is being collected in
order that SCI can check the supplier and the supplier’s key staff against prohibited parties and sanctions lists
to ensure that neither the supplier nor the supplier’s key staff are a sanctioned entity or associated with any
proscribed organisations.

Suppliers should be reviewed for change of ownership every 3 years; if there is any indication this has
occurred, the supplier should be re-vetted via the process described above. The supplier vetting software will
run checks periodically in the background for any non-compliances.

ProSave will automatically send a notification to the Vetting Team to start the vetting process once a supplier
has completed the Supplier Qualification Questionnaire and has received approval. This will automate the
current manual process of the Procurement Lead needing to email vetting requests to the Vetting team.

The Vetting Team will mark the supplier as vetted in ProSave, ensuring that details of all vetted suppliers are
kept in one centralised location accessible to all Regional and Country Offices. This will remove the risk of a
SCI office losing vetting numbers of suppliers. POs can only be sent to suppliers that have already been
vetted.
 6.14 Negotiation
Negotiations are recommended to be completed to achieve the best possible outcomes for SCI.
Negotiations should be conducted over multiple aspects of the supply including price, quality, delivery time
or other terms and conditions. The following standards should be applied in all negotiations:
 The Procurement Lead should prepare a Negotiation Strategy detailing the ideal outcome as well as
the fallback / least acceptable position for SCI. See the Negotiation Strategy template (SC-PR-22).
 The Procurement Committee or Program Manager/Budget Holder should be in agreement with who
and how the negotiation is conducted. Their endorsement should be documented in the Procurement
File (e.g. supplier recommendation notice, CBA or the Procurement Committee minutes).
 It should be done transparently with equal opportunity to shortlisted suppliers who meet the eligibility
criteria. (It may be among top 2 or 3 bidders).
 Final revised supplier offers must be re-submitted and the CBA updated accordingly to reflect any
changes in bidders scoring.
 It should be done prior to awarding business through the FWA or contract.

When suppliers are invited to provide pricing during the Quotation and Tender procedure, the
documentation should explicitly state that suppliers should provide their best possible pricing. This will
support fairness and transparency for all suppliers with respect to the initial cost aspect of supplier
evaluations.

6.15 Financial Benefits Capture

Measuring financial benefits achieved from our procurement activities is mandatory to achieve the following
objectives:
 Beneficiaries receive more aid and resources from us as program budgets go further.
 Donors can see commercial effectiveness and Value for Money for their taxpayers / investment.
 SCI will be recognised as an INGO that is lean and commercially minded, stewarding resources
efficiently and effectively.
 Supply Chain / Procurement teams are able to quantify sourcing outcomes to demonstrate
financial benefit achieved for its stakeholders and recognise successes.
 Finance teams are able to identify opportunities and facilitate decisions to re-direct / re-deploy
precious SCI budgets and resources.

The role of the Finance approval (as part of the Procurement Committee) is to confirm the application of
this methodology and for accuracy of the data and assumptions made. Benefits are subject to audits and
assumptions made should be justifiable and documented.

For further details, refer to SharePoint and the following link: Benefits Tracking Methodology.

6.16 Sourcing Outcomes

The typical outcomes of a sourcing event are:
1) Framework Agreement (FWA); no value/volume commitment to the supplier
2) Contract or Purchase Order; value/volume commitment to the supplier
3) Preferred Supplier; no value/volume commitment to the supplier; may or may not have a FWA in
place
The main differences are summarised in the table below:

Contract or FWA Non Fixed

Description FWA Fixed Price Preferred Supplier
Purchase Order Price
1st (Best) when a 3rd (Good - in
st value/volume nd
Preference of SCI 1 ( Best) 2 (Better) absence of a
commitment is
necessary FWA)
Set up by Simple Quotation, Simple Quotation,
Formal Quotation Formal quotation and
Sourcing Formal Quotation Formal Quotation
and Open Tender Open Tender
Procedure and Open Tender. and Open Tender.
Notification to
supplier / Status
Preferred Supplier Supplier with Preferred Supplier
entered in Supplier
Outcome with Fixed Price Contract or with Non Fixed Price
database.
Agreement Purchase Order Agreement
No FWA or spend
commitment
Yes (as per sourcing
Spend limits Yes Yes Yes procedure limit) if
FWA put in place
2 year at CO level 2 year at CO level 2 year at CO level
and 3 year at Centre Expires after the and 3 year at Centre and 3 year at Centre
/ Regional level. specific volume or / Regional level. / Regional level.
Validity
(1 year If setup value has been (1 year If setup (1 year If setup
under Emergency delivered. under Emergency under Emergency
situations) situations) situations)
Only possible
1 year at CO level 1 year at CO level
through Repeat
Extensions and 2 year at Centre and 2 year at Centre/ No
Orders procedure
/ Regional level. Regional level.
and guardrails.
Place Orders / Simple or Single
Order to be placed Order to be placed Simple Quotation
Subsequent Quotation
without Quotation without Quotation procedure
Purchases procedure
Minimum
3 or 1 (only if meets
suppliers for each 1 1 3
pre-requisites)
Category

6.16.1 Framework Agreements (FWA)

6.16.1.1 FWA Definition
A Framework Agreement is an agreement between SCI and a supplier in which elements such as
specifications, payment terms, and/or delivery lead times are fixed. SCI does not make any spend /
volume commitments to purchase when entering into an FWA.

The following supplies and services should be considered for FWAs where the market allows:
 Program supplies (medical, nutrition, construction, core relief items, etc.)
 Support supplies (stationary, printing material, vehicles and their spare parts, generators and their
spare parts, IT equipment, fuel, etc.)
 Support services (freight, fleet/generator maintenance/repair services, hotels, conference facilities,
flights, insurance, IT support, etc.)
There are 2 different kinds of FWA:
1) FWA Fixed Price – this is SCI’s preference
2) FWA without Fixed Price

6.16.1.2 FWA Fixed Price

The preference for SCI is to agree pricing or at least the pricing basis or mechanism with the supplier and
have this documented in the FWA. The pricing basis or mechanism is the calculation used to get a final price
at the time supply is required e.g. oil price index formula for fuel or the agreed day-rate charges per
resource level for consultancy.

Where possible, fixed price FWAs should contain mechanisms such as volume based discounting / volume
based pricing to gain better prices the more volume that we transact through them. If currency and
commodity fluctuations are a concern, the Procurement Lead should agree an exchange or index rate and a
tolerance for which if the rate exceeds (higher or lower) it triggers a new price / re-negotiation.

Multiple FWAs with Fixed Pricing can be set up to create a supply base for specific goods and services for
effective program delivery or office / department management. To streamline the purchasing process, there
must be a Preferred Supplier selected as per Value for Money principles i.e. the supplier of the lowest total
cost product or service that meets the core business requirements and essential criteria. There should also be a
Back-up Supplier(s) in case the Preferred Supplier fails to meet a critical supply requirement for that order
e.g. on lead times. The Procurement Committee can judge what is deemed critical. When the lowest total
cost option is not chosen (for example if another supplier is able to offer better quality which would have a
significant impact on program quality), it has to be clearly and objectively documented in the Procurement
records (e.g. supply recommendation email, CBA, Procurement Committee minutes etc.).

6.16.1.3 Non Fixed Price FWA

In many situations, conducting a sourcing procedure i.e. Formal Quotation and Tender procedure will result
in a set of selected suppliers where the pricing / pricing basis cannot be agreed. This may be due to there
being too many items to price/specify or significant price fluctuations that cannot be addressed through a
suitable pricing basis mechanism. In such instances justification to implement a Non Fixed Price FWA must be
documented in CBA / Procurement File and approved by the Procurement Committee.

A Simple Quotation sourcing procedure must not be followed for setting up a Non Fixed Price FWA
because the process will not have endorsement by a Procurement Committee. In these circumstances, a
Fixed Price FWA with one or more suppliers is the preference. If a Non Fixed Price FWA is the only option,
then a Formal Quotation sourcing procedure must be followed.

Using a Non Fixed Price FWA is a 2nd preference to putting in place a Fixed Price / Fixed Pricing Basis FWA.
However the advantages of conducting a pre-qualification of the supply base upfront and putting in place
Non-Fixed Price FWAs include a later reduction in sourcing effort (as similar purchase requests are made)
and a faster response times for our stakeholders/programs.

Non Fixed price FWAs with Multiple Preferred Suppliers

If the sourcing procedures results in a set of selected suppliers where the pricing / pricing basis cannot be
agreed, the suppliers are considered “Preferred Suppliers” for the goods or services that were in the scope
of the original sourcing procedure. A minimum number of 3 Preferred Suppliers are required for each
category to agree on pricing for placing subsequent orders. A limited competition i.e. a “Simple Quotation”
procedure, should be followed to select the supplier and to agree pricing. This is further described in Section
7.2: Purchasing from Preferred Suppliers & FWA (Non-Fixed Price).

Non Fixed price FWA with one Preferred Supplier

In certain situations, it may be necessary that a sourcing procedure results in just one Preferred Supplier for
which agreeing pricing may not be feasible. This may be the case for lower value, repetitive orders where the
supplier will not enter into a FWA unless they are the only supplier. This may be the case for stationery,
catering, supermarkets/retail shops and cleaning items. In these circumstances, procurements may be
completed through a Single Quotation procedure. This is further described in Section 7.2: Purchasing from
Preferred Suppliers & FWA (Non-Fixed Price).

This is only applicable under all of the following conditions:

 For supply requirements of total value under the Formal Quotation procedure threshold spend limit
/ cap. The limit / cap can be reduced by the Procurement Lead or a Procurement Committee
member.
 The supplier was selected from a competitive sourcing procedure (Formal Quotation only) that
included a commercial evaluation. This method cannot be used as a Sourcing Outcome from
Tenders.
 The Budget Holder / Procurement Committee agree to use only 1 supplier under a Non Fixed Price
FWA. Approval is recorded as part of the CBA.
 The resulting FWA is only valid for maximum 1 year; standard extension procedures then apply.
 The supplier can only supply the categories of goods or services that were covered in the scope of
the original Quotation.

6.16.1.4 FWA Spend Limits

Each FWA shall have a spend limit or cap. This should be equal to or less than the Sourcing Threshold value
used to decide on the appropriate Sourcing Procedure. The total spend cap shall cover all goods and services
purchased across all suppliers that are awarded business from a particular sourcing procedure. The total
spend against each FWA must be recorded in the Procurement Tracker to trigger a new Sourcing Procedure
if the limit is going to be reached or exceeded across any FWAs or contracts.
In the case where more than one Preferred Supplier is selected (e.g. a Primary and Back-up Supplier), the
total spend cap must be allocated across each supplier. The sum of all the individual spend limits for each
supplier/FWA cannot exceed the total spend limit.

For example, a RFQ sourcing procedure (upper limit $100k) is conducted and the outcome is an award to 2
Preferred Suppliers. FWAs (with a duration of 1 year) are set up with a limit of $80k for the Primary Supplier
and $20k for the Back-Up Supplier.

6.16.1.5 FWA Duration

The maximum duration or term of a FWA is 2 years if implemented at a country level and 3 years if
implemented at regional or centre level.

The duration of FWAs should be determined based on the market stability (price and availability) and the
country’s ability to effectively monitor prices and supply / service quality.
6.16.1.6 FWA Extensions
Spend Extensions (within the existing FWA duration)
All FWA extensions requested that take the spend above the upper limit of the original FWA spend cap /
limit or the sourcing threshold used for the initial sourcing procedure (whichever is higher), but within the
duration of the existing FWA term, should be requested through the Waiver process to gain approval
through the Waiver SOD to extend supply without running a new competitive Sourcing Procedure. If a
second extension is required, approval is also required from the Regional Procurement Manager or the
Global Category Owner. Waiver approval thresholds are based on the additional spend only.

Duration Extensions (within the original FWA spend cap or sourcing procedure’s threshold)
If the total spend will not exceed the cap of the FWA (or upper limit of the threshold used for the sourcing
procedure) then an expiring FWA can be extended, without requiring a new sourcing procedure. This is
allowable for up to one year at the country level and 2 years at the regional or centre level after approval
from the Budget Holder or the Procurement Committee.

Extensions of both Spend and Duration

If a FWA extension request both extends its duration and exceeds the upper limit of the sourcing threshold
used for the sourcing procedure, it must be requested through the Waiver process to gain approval through
the Waiver SOD to extend supply without running a new competitive Sourcing Procedure. Waiver approval
thresholds are based on the additional spend only and the duration extension is allowable for up to one year
at the country level and 2 years at the regional or centre level.

Extension for New Goods and Services

Whilst the preference is to conduct a competitive Sourcing Procedure for new demand, it is recognised that
this may not always be pragmatic. Therefore, new items may be added to an existing FWA without additional
Sourcing Procedures, signatures or approvals under the following criteria:
 The new items are due to Purchase Requests initiated by the Program or Office and are within the
same category family as was covered by the original FWA,
 Identical Supplier Essential and Capability Criteria would apply to the new items that were evaluated
against in the original Sourcing Procedure. This must be judged and recorded in meeting minutes,
CBA or Procurement File by the Country Supply Chain Lead in consultation with the members of
the Procurement Committee who had initially selected the supplier and agreed to set up the original
FWA, and
 The cost of the new items are tracked against the FWA in the Procurement Tracker and therefore
contribute towards the originally set Spend Limits, which must not be exceeded. If the spend limits /
cap is exceeded, the process outlined in section ‘Spend Extensions (within existing FWA duration)’
or ‘Extensions of both Spend and Duration’ should be followed.

6.16.1.7 Utilisation of FWAs and Preferred suppliers by the UN/donors

Where no FWAs are in place to meet a particular demand, the Procurement Lead may use any UN or donor
FWAs without an additional competitive Sourcing Procedure subject to following conditions:
 Suppliers have been selected after a competitive Sourcing Procedure run by the UN or donors and
this can be clearly demonstrated.
  The Procurement Committee are confident that the selected suppliers meet SCI’s requirements for
the goods or services and offer Value for Money. Due Diligence checks may be conducted if
required.
 The Procurement Committee set a limit or a cap on the value of the spend purchased through the
FWA. This must be lower than the limit/cap set by the UN or donor.
 The Purchasing process outlined in Section 7.3 Completing a Purchase Order or Contract should be
followed for FWAs sourced by the UN or a donor including tracking of orders (and therefore
expenditure) in Procurement Trackers.
 The supplier and the UN/Donor organisation must agree that the commercial terms in the
UN/Donor FWA be migrated to SCI standard terms and conditions.
 There is no exception to vetting or agreeing to mandatory policies – this must still happen.

Similarly if the UN or donors have Preferred Suppliers (akin to SCI’s definition of Preferred Suppliers), then
it is acceptable to follow the procedures as per Section 6.14.3: Preferred Suppliers (i.e. a Simple Quotation
Procedure can be followed).

The decision to use a UN- or donor-sourced FWA should be approved by Procurement Committee and
spend commitments approved as per the SOD. In the case of pharmaceutical suppliers they must conform
to SCI’s quality standards on pharmaceutical and health care products.

6.16.1.8 Utilisation of Humanitarian Procurement Centres (HPC)

Humanitarian Procurement Centres are organisations that have been accredited by certain donors (normally
ECHO) to provide procurement services to (I) NGOs. Donors undertake significant due diligence on
humanitarian procurement centres and they are required to follow internal procurement procedures which
meet donors requirements. SCI can buy from humanitarian procurement centres without following a
competitive process, at any spend limit, provided

 The donor who is funding the award which has the demand agrees;
 The HPC is recognised by a major donor (ECHO/OFDA);
 There is no existing agreement or FWA in place regionally or globally with SCI which would be a
valid alternative to the HPC
 Contracts/PO/FWAs must still be approved as per the prevailing SOD
 All other sourcing procedures governance (vetting, Procurement Committee, etc.) must be followed
except advertising and getting multiple quotes.

6.16.2 Contracts / Purchase Orders

A Contract is a legally-binding commitment between SCI and a supplier, committing us to purchase a
specified volume / value of goods or services during a particular timeframe. For example, a Contract to rent
a property for a fixed period.

A Purchase Order (PO) is also a form of Contract mainly used for low value one off purchases by SCI e.g.
office supplies or equipment orders. SCI standard POs have short form SCI Standard Terms and Conditions
attached.

As general guidance
  POs should only be used in isolation when following a Single or Simple Quotation sourcing
procedure and for a one-off purchase. They may also be used in combination with a Contract or
Framework Agreement to call-off order.
 The Short form Supply of Goods & Services contract should be used where using a quotation
procedure (so $100k and under), whether or not it’s a one-off purchase.
 The Long form contracts should be used where Tender (over $100k) or high/unusual risk.
 There are specific contracts for specific categories of goods and services – at the time of writing
these are in place for Construction & Cash Transfer but others are planned. Refer to the Guidelines
to the Contracting Templates table for further information Link

Please refer to the SCI Contracting Policy for guidance on when it is allowable to use local law and local
language in contracts and what additional governance is required.

You must obtain approval of the Contract from your SCI Legal Focal Point (here) if required to do so under
SCI’s Contracting SOP (here).

Where SCI Centre Legal Team review is required, involve them early in the procurement process and factor
in any time for review (and, if necessary, negotiation with the Supplier) into your timeframes. It may take up
to 10 days for the SCI Centre Legal team to respond to your queries.

Using Supplier terms (‘Supplier paper’) rather than SCI’s Standard Terms and Conditions, or making
substantial amendments to SCI’s Standard Terms and Conditions is likely to require significantly more time
for review and negotiation.

If the Centre, Country Office or Regional Office is aware of any particular legal risks in relation to a
Framework Agreement or a Contract (such as data protection, sanctions, export controls, terrorism
financing, safeguarding, anti-bribery and corruption, intellectual property or modern slavery), they should
notify their SCI Legal Focal Point (here) as soon as possible, with plenty of time for review.

Under certain situations, it is possible to use an existing Contract for additional supply requirements beyond
the originally contracted spend/volume and time commitments. This is described in Section 7.6: Repeat
orders against a Contract.

6.17 Preferred Suppliers

One or more Preferred Supplier(s) can be an outcome of a Formal Quotation or Tender procedure.
Suppliers are considered Preferred only under these types of sourcing procedures as they include the
definition and evaluation of the supplier against sub-category specific essential and capability due diligence
criteria. Preferred Suppliers may or may not result in a Framework Agreement.

Further procedures will then be required to award specific demand as described in Section 7.2: Purchasing
from Preferred Suppliers & FWA (Non-Fixed Price). In the case where a FWA is not possible, a minimum
number of 3 Preferred Suppliers are required for each category and a Simple Quotation procedure, as
described in Section 6.7.3: Simple Quotation Procedure must be followed for placing orders.

All Preferred Suppliers are entered into the database (status = “Preferred”) for the goods or services that
were in the scope of the sourcing procedure. Suppliers should be notified that they are preferred, with an
intention of putting in place a FWA with those suppliers. In the case where a FWA is the sourcing outcome,
all relevant provisions will apply including the spend caps as per Section 6.16.1.4: FWA Spend Limits.
However under certain conditions where it may not be possible to set up a FWA (Fixed or Non Fixed price)
such justifications must be documented in CBA / Procurement File and approved by the Procurement
Committee and the Director of Operations.

Consideration should be given to the estimated amount of spend to be routed through Preferred Suppliers
and the relevant Sourcing Procedure must be followed. If in doubt, then an Open Tender sourcing procedure
shall be followed in such scenarios. For example, if a supplier is identified after a Formal Quotation
procedure then the spend limits for the identified supplier (and FWA) should be below the maximum limits
for the Formal Quotation procedure (i.e. less than US $ 100,000).

Preferred Suppliers have validity up to 2 years at CO level and 3 years at Regional or Centre level. However,
this 2 or 3 year period may be reduced based on volatile supply markets and supplier risk profiles. In case of
setting up Preferred Suppliers during a Humanitarian Response the validity shall be limited to a maximum of 1
year. The Director of Operations or equivalent should annually approve the country’s list of Preferred
Suppliers entered in Supplier Database.

6.18 FWA or Contract Approvals

6.18.1 Purpose
The purpose of the SOD approvals is to authorise that any non-capital expenditure commitments are
conducted “Within procurement policy and approved budget”

6.18.2 Expenditure Basis for Financial SOD Threshold

The spend value used to determine the procedure to follow to setup a Framework Agreement or Contract,
must be based on the projected or budgeted cumulative value of the goods or services over the proposed
period of the Framework Agreement or Contract. If in doubt then an Open National Tender Procedure
should be conducted.
Approval will be required as per the SOD for the total expected spend value through the contracts or
FWAs.

6.18.3 Approval Request Format

For contracts and FWAs arising from Open Tenders, the Contract & Framework Approval Request (CFAR)
form (SC-PR-19) should be used to provide the key information to the SOD approver.
For contracts and FWA’s arising from any other sourcing procedure the Contract & Framework Approval
Request (CFAR) for may be used, or alternatively, a formal email may be used.

6.18.4 Regional and Centre Approvals

For Sourcing Procedures that exceed the Country Director (CD) Financial SOD limit and require Regional
or Centre approval, the Procurement Lead should not issue a signed FWA / Contract to the supplier until
the authorisation is received.
In order to get this authorisation, the Procurement Committee and country approvals as per SOD must first
be in place, and then the key Procurement File along with a completed Contract & Framework Approval
Request (CFAR) form (SC-PR-19) should be sent to the Regional Procurement Unit. The Regional
Procurement Unit will review the process from the SCI policy and procedures perspective and seek Regional
Award endorsement to ensure donor compliance, as required (e.g. when the SCI procedure has not been
followed).

The CFAR form must be completed in English in all situations even when the underlying procurement
documentation is in a different language.

If the underlying procurement documentation is not in English the CFAR must include enough information to
allow an effective review to take place. The CFAR must highlight any key risk, issues, and challenges in the
contract which should be completed by the Regional Supply Chain Lead or the Regional Procurement
Manager.

Upon satisfactory feedback / endorsement from Awards, the Regional Procurement Unit will then facilitate
the necessary Regional and Centre approvals. After this authorisation is received by email, the Country
Director can sign the FWA or Contract for issuance to the supplier.

Staff will no longer need to use Contract & Framework Approval Request (CFAR) form as the approval flow
will be systemised and automated on ProSave, making this process faster and easier for staff to complete.

6.18.5 Distribution of Document Copies

The Budget Holder (as per the Scheme of Delegation) must sign to approve 3 copies of the FWA, Contract or
Purchase Order. One copy is provided to the supplier, one copy to the receiver of the goods or service (e.g.
SCI warehouse officer / storekeeper of the receiving warehouse or the person managing the service contract,
if a service) and one copy is retained by the Procurement Lead to go into the Procurement File.

6.19 Procurement File

Once a Sourcing Outcome has been put in place following the relevant sourcing procedure, the Procurement
department must generate a Procurement File for the Sourcing Procedure which must include the following
information detailed in the below table.:

We can be required to respond to donor audits or investigations a long time after procurements have been
concluded so accurate record keeping is vital. It is recommend to keep files for up to seven years.

Procurement File Single Simple Request for

National Tender
Requirements Quotation Quotation Quotation
 (not  (not mandatory for
Purchase Requisition  
mandatory for proactive sourcing)
 proactive
sourcing)
Copy of email to supplier
   
(asking for quotation)
Names of suppliers asked
   
to quote
Budget holder approval on
   
quote selection
RFQ documentation    
ITT documentation    
Tender
Advertisement/Newspaper    
Listing
List of suppliers who
   
respond
Procurement Committee
   
meeting minutes
Supplier responses    
Competitive Bid Analysis  
Vetting check reference
   
number
Financial SOD approval
emails (for FWA,    
Contract)
FWA or Contract
counter-signed by both    
parties
Purchase Orders    
Goods Receipt Note or
   
Services completion note
Any other information
relevant to the sourcing    
procedures

ProSave will automatically store all the information generated during a process run in the system which can
then be accessed if needed for later audits. There are some items in the Procurement File which will not
automatically be captured by ProSave, and these will need to be manually uploaded (e.g. evidence of
newspaper advertisement).
6.20 Procurement Waivers
In some situations it may not be possible to follow the procedures defined in this Manual, for example a
Simple Quotation Procedure might need to be done for a Contract value that would normally require a
Formal Quotation Procedure. In these situations the Program Manager or Budget Holder will need to apply
for a Waiver, preferably before the Purchase Request stage.
A Waiver can only be authorised in writing by the Country Director or higher authority as per the Waiver
Financial Scheme of Delegation.

Waivers also require Procurement approval to confirm that the exception is allowed under the SCI
Procurement Policy and Procedures. This aligns to the Financial Scheme of Delegation approvals, specifically:

 Country-level approvals by Country Head of Supply Chain,

 Regional-level approvals by Regional Procurement Manager and
 Centre-level approvals by the Global Category Owners (cc'ing the Regional Procurement Manager)

In some categories, depending on the nature of the Waiver, there may be additional governance
requirements e.g. Cash Transfer, Medical; some of which are described in Section 10: Specialist
Requirements.

Prior to the Waiver SOD approval, if required by the Sub-Award Agreement or donor rules, the relevant
donor approvals should also be obtained. It is the responsibility of the requester (program/budget-holder) to
check whether the Waiver request is compliant with donor procedures (either by themselves or through
consultation with Awards/the Member Donor Management team). If it is not, then written/email permission
from the Donor, through the SC Member, is required.

An explanation of why the Waiver is required and justifiable must be documented and recorded in the
Procurement File using the Procurement Procedure Waiver form (SC-PR-08). Once a Waiver has been
approved, as defined in the Scheme of Delegation, it must be tracked in the Procurement Waiver tracker
(SC-PR-09) then the relevant procurement procedure, as outlined in the Waiver form, must be followed.

Country Office Waiver trackers must be saved on SharePoint and shared with the Regional Procurement
Unit twice per year.

The Regional Procurement Unit should maintain a consolidated Regional Waiver Tracker to track all waivers
which are approved in the region. The centre procurement team should maintain a waiver tracker form for
all waivers which are approved in the centre.

If due to a change of circumstances (new staff, new information etc.) it becomes clear that an old sourcing
procedure has not complied with the procurement manual then a procurement waiver should be completed
retrospectively.

6.21 Note to file

In certain circumstances it may be necessary to record information about a sourcing procedures which is
noteworthy but does not constitute a violation of our procedures. In these instances a “note to file” can be
used to record the situation, the analysis of the problem and the conclusion / course of action decided. The
note to file should be signed by and the budget holder and saved in the procurement file.
 6.22 IT Systems and Data Security
Supplier IT security requirements and Data Protection should be considered during the procurement
process and prior to supplier engagement especially in situations where suppliers will provide IT Systems and
IT Related Services or will gain access to SCI information systems including software applications or data. For
example, software implementation suppliers with access to our HR database.

It is important to have appropriate IT security controls in place to protect confidentiality, integrity and
availability of our IT Systems and Data as well as to comply with the SCI IT Security Policy. Contact your
Local IT Support Team or email to ‘IT Security’ for guidance on safeguarding SCI IT Systems and Data.

If any personal data (i.e. data which relates to a living individual, including names, dates of births, addresses,
telephone numbers, email addresses, job titles, financial information, health information etc.) is being
transferred to a supplier or a Member or if a supplier or Member will have access to this data, then the
agreement with the supplier must include SCI’s data sharing clauses. For more information contact your
Legal Focal Point.

Procurement must include an IT Security section, to be completed by the supplier, in the bidder response
document for non-Hardware IT commodities.

The IT Security section can be found in the Sourcing library in ProSave.

7 Purchasing (or ordering)

7.1 Completing a Purchase Request

Where no supply agreements (FWA, Contract etc.) are in place, the SCI staff member must consult the
Procurement department for all purchases prior to supplier engagement.

Program Managers or Budget Holders or program requestors must complete a Purchase Request form (SC-
PR-07) to initiate any procurement of goods or services, in line with the timings in their award Activity/work
plan and Procurement Plan. In order to deliver the right goods and services on time the requestor must
provide detailed specifications for the goods or services. If the details are insufficient this can lead to delays
caused by a need for Procurement to clarify the specifications. It is not the role of Procurement to develop
specifications / TORs and Program Managers, Budget Holders or program requestors should not request
Procurement staff to complete Purchase Requests (PR) on their behalf.

The best possible estimate of required budget for goods or services should be included on PR by requester,
since the amount will stipulate the procurement procedure to be followed. Estimated amount against a
purchase request must not be split to avoid a certain sourcing procedure. In case of significant variation of
PR estimate and quotations by suppliers, reasons must be documented in the CBA.

The Purchase Request form should be submitted to the relevant Procurement Lead to verify the details are
correct and then accept the PR for action. The local Procurement Lead will then specify the “Purchasing
Location” on the Purchase Request and route it to the relevant Procurement owner. For International
Procurements (i.e. imported supply) this will then be routed to the Regional Procurement Unit (RPU)

The Purchase Request form (SC-PR-07) is an internal tool used to start the Procurement Procedure. It is
mandatory for all procurements except when using a Cash & Receipt process. It sets out the specification
and quantity of goods or services required, the criteria for purchase, budget availability, where or whom they
are to be delivered to and when they are required.

Staff will be able to raise Purchase Requisitions through the system instead of completing a paper-based PR
form. This will be a far easier and simpler process especially when a PR is raised from a Catalogue.

The approval flow for Purchase Requisitions will be automated and visible on the system, so approvals will be
much faster and easier for staff to complete saving a significant amount of time.

7.1.1 Developing Specifications

Purchase Requests should not be prepared with overly broad nor overly restrictive specifications that will
prohibit a competitive Sourcing Procedure. This is referred to as ‘rigging of specifications’.
Rigging of specifications means tailoring the specifications to favour a particular supplier and exclude others
from the competition. Specifications that are too narrow can exclude qualified bidders or justify improper
sole source awards. Unduly vague or broad specifications can allow an unqualified bidder to compete in
sourcing event. Furthermore requesting a specific brand name on PR shall be avoided unless it is justified and
reasons are duly documented on the purchase requisition and CBA. Awards department should be consulted
for possible donor rules if applicable on brand restrictions. It is acceptable, when specifications are hard to
accurately communicate to list a brand name with “or equivalent” to enable the market to effectively
understand the requirements.

7.1.2 Lead Times

The lead-time to place an order should be considered while completing a Purchase Requisition. Lead times
should be mutually agreed by the requester and the Procurement Lead based on pre-defined office targets
for that sourcing procedure.

7.1.3 Differences between PR and PO values

If there is a difference of more than 15% between the budgeted / forecasted cost on an approved Purchase
Requisition and the combined value of any Purchase Orders created from the Purchase Requisition then the
Purchase Requisition should be re-approved before the Purchase Order is created.
 7.2 Purchasing from Preferred Suppliers and FWAs (Non-Fixed Price)

Global and regional catalogues, price lists and FWAs will be made visible to the countries once in place.
The mechanism to select and purchase from multiple Preferred Suppliers and to purchase from
FWAs that are Non-Fixed priced is as follows:

7.3 Completing a Purchase Order or Contract

A Purchase Order (SC-PR-13) or a Contract (SC-C-02) with the standard SCI Terms & Conditions must
be completed by the Procurement Lead.

In addition to standard SCI terms and conditions in the PO or Contract, the Procurement Lead may place
further clauses to cover any potential risk for that sourcing activity, or any clauses required for a specific
category. The PO or Contract must include the following: specifications / product description, Quantity,
Prices, Payment method and schedule, delivery schedule, penalty clauses and locations (including incoterms if
relevant), start and end dates (if relevant for works or services), and any quality and service stipulations key to
delivery.
Purchase Orders should be prepared for and initially signed by procurement and then by the authorised
budget holder (as per the financial SoD) before being issued to suppliers. Suppliers should then sign and / or
stamp the PO to indicate acceptance.

All available Contract templates approved by Legal department can be accessed from the following link on
OneNet:

All SCI Contract/FWA templates translated into the four SCI official languages are available in ProSave’s
Contract Management module. ProSave will provide the correct template after a set of questions is
answered when starting to create the Contract.

If an invoice from a supplier does not match the initially agreed amounts on a Contract or a PO due to
unforeseen circumstances then Supply Chain must refer to the relevant Finance Manual to understand the
governance around how payment can be released.

Note: POs are required for all transaction exceeding $100 (i.e. exceeding cash receipt limits / petty cash
process). Exceptions to this requirement should be agreed between the Country Supply Chain Lead and the
Country Head of Finance.

Staff will no longer need to complete a paper-based Purchase Order as it will be automatically generated by
the system once the Purchase Requisition has been fully approved.

7.4 Recording Receipt of Goods/Services

For Goods: Once goods are received in the receiving warehouse / office they must be inspected and
verified for quantity and quality against the Purchase Order, following which a Goods Received Note (SC-
PR-14) (GRN) is generated and signed by the SCI Warehouse Officer / Storekeeper / Requestor / Receiver,
with one copy for retained their records and a second copy retained for the Procurement Lead to include in
the Procurement File. Under circumstances where we have a system generated GRN from TIM, it shall be
documented in the system record instead of the GRN.

For Services: once services (or construction works) are completed they must be verified for completion
and quality, following which a Services Completion Note (SC-PR-15) (SCN) is generated and signed by a
relevant Program manager and the Procurement Lead, with one copy retained for the Program Manager or
Budget Holders records and a second copy retained for the Procurement Lead to include in the
Procurement File.

One Purchase Order may result in multiple consignments and therefore a GRN / SCN must be generated for
each delivery. As well as this, if goods arrive in different batches (e.g. for medical) a GRN must be completed
for each batch to allow for future tracking if necessary due to a product recall. A Purchase Order should not
be closed until all the goods have been received.

How goods or services are received in ProSave will be determined by the ‘Type of good / service’ and the
‘Ship to’ location.
For Goods For Programmatic / Thematic Use: If the ‘Ship To’ location is a TIM Warehouse, the goods will be
received in TIM by Warehouse staff. If the ‘Ship to’ location is not a TIM warehouse, the goods will be
received in ProSave.
For Goods / Services For Office / Staff Use: These types of goods will always be received in ProSave. Any
user can receive these i ProSave.Staff will no longer need to manually create a Goods Received Note as it
will be automatically generated in either TIM or ProSave, depending on how the goods are received.

7.5 Submission of Procurement File

The Procurement Lead shall prepare a handing over note (checklist of supporting documents) that provides a
Procurement File for the relevant procurement to Finance which will include all of the documentation detailed
in section ‘6.19 Procurement File’.

Payment must be made to the supplier by Finance within the payment terms as agreed on the Purchase Order,
Contract or FWA.

If there is a need to pay a supplier upfront for a purchase, then a cash advance can be requested from the
Finance department (as per the Country Finance Manual), following which the above Procurement File must
be submitted to Finance as justification for the cash advance.

7.6 Repeat orders against a Contract

A supplier who has provided goods or services under a Contract established from a competitive Sourcing
Procedure, can be awarded additional orders for similar nature of goods or services only if the requirement
meets all of these conditions:
1. Goods or services are needed to complete a program, and it would not be appropriate to get a
different supplier to finish it, as to do so would mean the project could not be completed
2. The original sourcing outcome is a fixed length / fixed volume / value Contract not a Framework
Agreement
3. There is no change to the pricing or commercial terms
4. The repeat orders are placed within 12 months after the end of the original Contract AND
5. The total repeat order value is less than 50% of the original Contract value.

The basis of placing a repeat order should be documented in the Procurement File or CBA and approved as
per the SOD and by the Procurement Committee. A repeat order should not be placed due to lack of
planning or an inaccurate purchase request, and the supplier should have been selected initially after a
competitive Sourcing Procedure. A repeat order cannot be issued to suppliers identified by a Waiver
process.

Repeat orders against a Contract will be replicated in ProSave by the user reopening the Contract and
increasing the value of the contract by at most, 50%. This will generate a new approval flow.

8 Order Management Procedures

All documents used in the procurement procedure need to be numbered and tracked on the
SCI Procurement Tracker (SC-PR-04); this is done through giving each document a unique tracking
number. The tracking number should be based on an abbreviation of the name of the document, the
location, the year and a unique sequential number, as demonstrated for each form below:

 Purchase Request: PR-Country (3 letters)-Office (3 letters)-Year-Sequential number e.g. PR-PAK-

ISL-2018-09.
 Request for Quotation and Competitive Bid Analysis: Do not need their own unique numbers,
but should have listed on them all relevant PR numbers.
 Purchase Order: PO-Country (3 letters)-Office (3 letters)-year-sequence e.g. PO-TUR-ATY-2018-
32.
 Contract: CON-Category (3 letters, from category taxonomy)-Country (3 letters)-Office (3 letters)-
year-sequence e.g. CON- NFI-TUR-ATY-2018-15.
 Framework Agreement: FWA-Category (3 letters, from category taxonomy)-Country (3 letters)-
Office (3 letters)-Year-Sequence e.g. FWA-NFI-MLI-SKO-2018-02.
 Goods Received Note: GRN-Office-Year-Sequential number e.g. GRN-KIN-2018-23
 Services Completion Note: SCN-Office-Year-Sequential number e.g. SCN-KIT-2018-45

It is important that no numbers are duplicated or skipped. If a Purchase Request is cancelled then the
number cannot be allocated to another PR; it must be recorded as ‘PR / quotation closed’ on the tracking
sheet.

The Procurement Tracker allows for effective management of orders in the pipeline for programs. It
provides an overview of all procurement activity, showing the status of each procurement, as well as
providing management information on performance and trends in spend.

A Procurement Tracker must be completed for each field location and must be sent to all relevant program
and Supply Chain staff on a weekly basis. All country offices should submit a summary and all details of
procurement trackers to the Regional office on a monthly basis.

The Procurement Tracker must include line-by-line information from all received Purchase Requests.
Procurement Leads must ensure that the information in the procurement tracker is up to date and accurate
to allow relevant staff to track their orders so that they can incorporate expected delivery dates into their
program implementation plans.
The Procurement Tracker also includes a tab which the Country Office must use to keep an up to date
record of the Framework Agreements and Contracts that have been signed by the country office.

8.1 Invoicing and Payment

Invoices / receipts will be received by SCI at the same time as goods are delivered or services are completed,
or shortly thereafter. The receiver should check the following:
 The invoice / receipt is on headed paper of the supplier or clearly marked with the suppliers’ official
stamp and signatures
 The invoice / receipt has come from the supplier to whom the Purchase Order was issued
 The specification, quantity, price and currency is the same as on the Purchase Order, Contract or
FWA.
 All goods / services have been received and documented on the GRN / SCN or Bill of Lading / shipping
documents

A payment term should be agreed with the supplier at the point of signing a FWA or Contract or issuing a
PO and reflected in the relevant terms, giving time for the checking of goods / services and processing of the
invoice by Finance after the receipt of the goods / services at a shipping point or issuing of a GRN.

SCI’s standard payment terms are 45 days from date of receipt of goods or services.

Procurement should process payment files / packs in a timely manner in line with finance requirements to
enable payment of suppliers in line with agreed payment terms.

All invoices received from suppliers will be visible in ProSave.

Any member of staff who receives an invoice will need to enter the details of the invoice into ProSave and
scan and upload a copy.

The invoices will be automatically reconciled in ProSave in an automated matching process and sent
to Agresso for payment. Accounts Payable will be automatically notified of any mismatches which
were idenitifed during the reconcilaiton stage. These will be handled by Accounts Payable but can be
delegated to another function if need be.

8.2 Closing Orders

Orders can be closed once the goods / services have been received, and the invoice sent to the Finance
Department for the supplier to be paid. At this stage it is recommended that the original of the Procurement
File should also be passed to the Finance Department and retained by them (for 7 years) for audit purposes
unless required for a longer period as per donor rules or applicable laws.

POs can be closed for the following two scenarios:

1. Closed for Receiving: Procurement, System Admins and the Requester (for their own POs) will be able to
close POs when the PO is either “partially received” or “fully received”. Closing the PO for Receiving will
not allow any further items to be received on the PO. PO’s should not be ‘Closed for Receiving’ until all
expected items have been received for that PO
2. Close for Change: Procurement and the System Admins will be able to close the PO for changes. Closing
the PO for changes will not allow any further modifications to the PO.

9 Supplier Management Procedures

9.1 Supplier Statuses
There are 5 main statuses of suppliers that are entered into the Supplier Database:

1) Registered: A Supplier that has completed the SCI supplier registration form. (These suppliers can
be invited to quote for Single, Simple and Formal Quotation processes).
2) Registered, Vetted: Supplier that has completed the SCI Supplier Registration form and has
completed the vetting process following the awarding of a PO, Contract or FWA after sourcing
procedure.
3) Registered, Qualified: Supplier is ‘Registered, Vetted’ and has payment details collected and
verified by Finance (these suppliers can be paid).
4) Preferred Supplier: Preferred Suppliers are ‘Registered, Qualified’ Suppliers that have been
selected as Preferred by Procurement, following a market enlistment process or sourcing
procedures.
5) Supplier Suspended: A Supplier that has been discontinued or prohibited for future business with
SCI in accordance with procedures listed below.

9.2 Supplier Identification and Registration

There are many different routes to identify suppliers and register them as potential suppliers to Save the
Children:
1) Internet Research - You can find prospective suppliers through internet searches, websites of
trade organisation, local or central government websites.
2) UN Actors or other NGOs – Larger UN agencies often publish supplier lists for all countries or
announce who has won bidding events on their websites.
3) Physical Market Visits – In smaller communities and field locations then driving around the
location and identifying wholesalers or retailers may be a suitable method for identifying suppliers

Suppliers identified in this manner should complete the Supplier Registration Form (SC-PR-17)

Alternatively, if advertising for suppliers without a specific demand in mind a Vendor Enlistment Procedure
could be completed:

1) Vendor Enlistment Procedure – In larger markets it may be appropriate to run a supplier

registration event where the CO proactively advertises a larger list of categories and ask suppliers in
the local market to apply to join the supplier database.
To set up a Supplier in ProSave a Supplier Request Form must be created to initiate the Supplier Set Up
process.

The Supplier Registration Form (SC-PR-17) will no longer need to be completed by suppliers. Instead
suppliers will need to complete the Supplier Registration Questionnaire (for basic details), the Qualification
Questionnaire (for vetting information) and the Bank Info Questionnaire (for payment details). Suppliers can
complete these questionnaires via the Ariba Network or offline.

9.3 Supplier Database

A supplier database Supplier Database (SC-PR-05) must be maintained for every location that is conducting
sourcing or buying activities. The supplier database is a critical tool to record known suppliers for any given
market. The supplier database includes records of whether or not suppliers have been vetted, have passed
essential and capability criteria and can be used to list performance challenges or other issues with suppliers.

As Supplier Databases are used to determine which suppliers to solicit quotations from, it should be
approved annually by the Country Supply Chain Lead.

Supplier databases must include all suppliers used by a Country Office including suppliers that be selected via
delegated sourcing.

The Supplier Database will no longer need to be used as ProSave will act as a repositary for supplier’s details.
This has several advantages:
• All of SCI’s suppliers will be kept in one place improving the visibility and accessibility of this information.
• It will be easy to see the status of suppliers. The status of Suspended suppliers used by one office will be
visible by other offices. A suspended supplier’s status also cannot be changed unless it has been approved.
Unlike the excel Supplier Database, the supplier repository in ProSave cannot be lost, misplaced or damaged.

9.4 Price Survey / Market Assessment

To verify that Value for Money is continually being secured and budgets for Programs and Offices are accurate,
a Price Survey or Market Assessment may be completed periodically by using Price list Survey (SC-PR-16)

When there are volatile supply, commodity or currency conditions, a Price Survey / Market Assessment should
be undertaken annually by Procurement.
 9.5 Database of Suspended Suppliers
9.5.1 Definition
‘Suspension’ means debar, discontinue or prohibit business activities with a supplier. Supplier(s) can be
suspended if they have or might have a significant negative impact on SCI’s reputation and resources. The
reasons for suspension may include, but not be limited to, the following: Failure in compliance checks
(vetting), fraudulent acts, unable to fulfil contractual obligations, conflicts of interest, quality issues, child
safeguarding incidents, adult safeguarding (impacting vulnerable adults in programming activities or SCI staff),
safety incidents on site due to supplier gross negligence, terrorism / sanctions concerns, modern slavery and
/ or human trafficking concerns, and any other actions or omissions by the supplier or their staff, that has
resulted or might result in material financial or reputational loss to SCI.

Once a supplier is suspended they will be disqualified permanently to do business globally across all country
offices of SCI, unless otherwise agreed by Global Head of Procurement or Regional Supply Chain Lead in
consensus with the SCI Centre Legal Team. If you are in doubt about whether a supplier should be
suspended, please contact the Global Head of Procurement or Regional Supply Chain Lead in the first
instance, who may consult the Central Legal Team.

9.5.2 Process
The following key steps should be followed for suspending suppliers:
 The staff member or Procurement Committee flags to the Procurement department any cases
where any of the above criteria have been met and where there is a potential case for suspending a
supplier. All relevant evidence of the offences (quality control issues, photos, emails, minutes of
meeting etc.) must be documented in records and stored securely. Only the supplier suspension
committee (see below) should have access to these documents, and they may grant permissions to
others to access such documents only so far as is necessary. This information should not be added to
the Database of Suspended Suppliers.
 The Procurement Lead calls a “Supplier Suspension” committee meeting to review the potential
suspended case. The committee may comprise of 3 senior positions (one HR staff, Program Manager
/ Budget Holder or delegated person, and one member of the Country / Regional SMT)
 The person who is proposing to suspend a supplier shall not be a voting member of committee.
 In this committee meeting it is decided a) whether to suspend the Supplier / Contractor or not, and
b) If ‘yes’ then this must be documented in the minutes of meeting along with sufficient and
appropriate evidence. The supplier database should be updated accordingly. The committee must
agree the communication approach with the supplier, taking into account our supplier fairness
principle and the local context.
 Notification shall be made to the Regional Procurement Unit and the relevant Global Category
Owner.

9.5.3 Database & Reporting

The Procurement department should update the suspension status in the Supplier Database along with
‘reasons’ for the suspension. The details of suspended suppliers should also be shared with the Finance
department to discontinue future payments after the date of suspension. As soon as a supplier is suspended a
notification by email should be sent to Regional Supply Chain Leads and the relevant Global Category
Owner.

9.5.4 Discontinuing existing Agreements

In situations where a Country Office has to suspend and / or discontinue business with an existing supplier
with whom we have a valid FWA, Contract or PO, prior opinion from local lawyers or your SCI Legal Focal
Point should be obtained to avoid Legal implications.

9.5.5 Internal Supplier Database of Suspended Suppliers

Once the final decision has been agreed for suspending a supplier by the committee as per the above stated
procedures, the supplier suspension committee shall communicate the details of Supplier by email to
compliance@savethechildren.org where they will be recorded in an International Supplier Database. This list
should only be made available to the Centre Compliance Team, the Centre Legal Team, and the Global
Heads of Procurement and Supply Chain. In future whenever an email is sent for vetting (compliance checks),
the staff member within the Centre vetting team will check this Database as part of the vetting process. (See
Section 6.13: Supplier Vetting)

9.5.6 Review of ‘Suspension status’

If a Country or Regional office intends to engage a supplier that has been previously suspended then the staff
member should submit a request over email to the supplier suspension committee, or, where the committee
no longer exists, to the Global Head of Procurement to review the decision. If possible, the initial basis of
suspension, along with supporting documents should be shared to facilitate the review. If it is deemed
appropriate to revoke the suspension, then the supplier can be removed from the suspension status in
consultation with the SCI Legal Compliance Team and after approval of the Regional Supply Chain Lead or
the Global Head of Procurement. Once a supplier is removed from a suspended status, the decision shall be
communicated to the COs and the RPUs.

9.5.7 Confidentiality
Any database of suspended suppliers shall be kept confidential and must not be shared with external parties
or other INGOs unless a prior Legal opinion is obtained from the respective Legal focal person of SCI.

10 Specialist Requirements
10.1 Construction
All Construction should comply with the process standards set out in the SCI Construction Policy, Standard
Benchmarks and Tools which can be found here Link
Construction procurement is a challenging technical discipline. Sub-standard buildings or works constitute a
risk to our beneficiaries and as such we should follow additional checks and due diligence procedures when
conducting Construction procurement.
Procurement staff should lead sourcing procedures, however a qualified engineer is required to support the
process throughout to ensure that construction specific risks are minimised and quality technical input is
provided at key points.
What do you need to know?

 Pre-qualifying Construction Contractors can be an efficient way of ensuring we have qualified

construction firms to support developmental or humanitarian programming.
 Procurement should only go to the supply market with Construction documentation (drawings, bill
of quantities, specifications) that has been created by a qualified engineer.
o If you are asked to conduct Construction procurement without engineer approved
documentations please escalate to your Country Head of Supply Chain who will contact the
Regional Procurement Unit for further support.
 All Construction procurement should use the sourcing best practice CBA as a starting point and
adapt that to local standards.
 For procurement where the build location is known SCI should hold a site visit day to invite
Construction contractors to see the site before they submit a bid.
 References checks are essential; ideally, SCI should visit example buildings of preferred contractors
before singing FWAs or Contracts.
 The process of validating project progress should be transparent and include; a technically qualified
SCI individual, a representative from Supply Chain, a finance representative and, if appropriate, a
member of the Government or Local Community.
 The provision of sub-standard materials on a build when compared to a bid or a contract/framework
agreement is fraud and should be reported as such.
 SCI should make use of the Standard Construction Contract SC-C-05 where appropriate.

10.2 Pharmaceutical / Healthcare

Healthcare categories (including medicines, medical devices, vaccines, nutritional products and medical
equipment) have specific quality requirements. These products must only be sourced from suppliers
(manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers) that are able to comply with SCI’s quality assurance standards.
Under SCIs Wholesale Dealer Licences issued by the United Kingdom’s Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory
agency, We must ensure we are following these three processes when conducting procurement which can
be found on the Procurement OneNet pages.

 International Purchasing Procedure SCI_SC_GDP_PUR_PRC_001

 Verification of Medical Suppliers SCI_SC_GDP_PUR_PRC_002
 Purchasing from Global or Regional Medical Suppliers SCI_SC_GDP_PUR_PRC_003

SCI can only procure from suppliers that have gone through the Supplier Verification process. If you are
unsure if the suppliers you are using have gone through the supplier verification process you should contact
your Regional Procurement Unit or Global Category owner for further information.

There is a separate policy for Gift in Kind (GIK) donations of healthcare commodities; contact the Head of
Policy and Advocacy for further details.

10.3 Cash Transfer Programming

Introduction
The Cash Transfer Programming (CTP) Manual must be consulted prior to engaging any supplier. SCI has
pre-selected a country, regional and multi-regional network of leading providers as part of its Global Cash
Transfer Solution (GCTS) to deliver our cash transfers in most markets. Following a competitive Sourcing
Procedure and significant due diligence, SCI has signed Framework Agreements (FWAs) with these providers
to maximise value for money, manage risk and accelerate response times. SCI’s Global Procurement Policy
requires that SCI staff members should “use existing Framework Agreements, contracts and Procurement
Preferred suppliers”. The expectation is that these providers are used.
Contracting with Service provider and Contract templates
All contracts with a cash transfer service provider must be on SCI standard terms and conditions. Three
contract templates have been specially created to fit the three most common cash programming modalities
(cash, voucher and e-transfer) and are available for download from the CTP SharePoint site for SCI Contact
Templates. Guidance on the use of the template and FAQs on Contracting are available on Legal page Link
or on the CTP resources page.
High risk contracts or non-standard CTP contracts (i.e. mandatory SCI standard terms have been changed or
we are using a vendor’s form to contract) will need SCI Centre legal team approval before signing.
Exception / Waiver process
If a GCTS provider for the required modality is not available, the Country Office will need to seek approval as
per the Exceptions process illustrated in section 6.1 of the CTP Operations Manual.
If there is a suitable GTCS provider available, but the CO has a requirement to utilise another provider or
deviate from GCTS, the Waiver process must be followed as per section 6.1.3 of the CTP Operations Manual.
CTP Sourcing Procedures
For CTP the service fee (not including the cash handled) is the threshold value used for deciding on the
appropriate Sourcing Procedure. For details, refer to following link for CTP resources page. For Financial
SOD approvals the total value of the cash distributed and the service fee determine the level of required
Financial SOD approval.
If the threshold falls below the Sourcing Procedure for a National Tender, a competitive Formal Quotation
procedure (i.e. 3 sealed bids “Mandatory for CTP”) must be followed irrespective of the estimated service fee.
The Souring Procedure for restricted E transfer / vouchers including points allocated via closed-cards or
vouchers can only be used at certain pre-identified shops or stores (the vendors) is determined by the total
cost of goods being procured across all vendors – for further guidance on Vendor selection steps for E-transfer
/ vouchers refer to section 6.3.2 of the CTP Manual (issued June 2018)
CTP Assessment Tool
The CTP Assessment Tool must be completed to confirm a provider’s capability criteria and must be attached
to the CBA for approval by the Procurement Committee.

10.4 Gift in Kind (GIK)

GIK is managed by the awards function and should be approved and managed in line with the awards manual.
It is the responsibility of awards team in the country office to register, track and report on all GIK and ensure
that relevant warehousing and distribution policies and systems are being used.
If GIKs enter an SCI warehouse / store then they must be managed in exactly the same way as SCI stock with
the same stock management tools (GRNs, Stock Cards, Stock Release Forms (SRFs), Waybills, etc.).
Relevant guidelines and FAQs on GIK are provided on the Awards Management Section of OneNet

10.5 Food
Food related procurements and operations should be managed in accordance with specific guidelines as
stated in the Commodity Management Tool Kit and Food Manual.

10.6 Travel
The procurement of Travel has specialist requirements due to risk management, SCI’s duty of care to our
staff and emergency reporting needs. A robust, all-inclusive approach to travel risk management is not only
an employer’s duty, it can save money, improve business continuity and in some cases – save lives. For this
reason, Travel is owned by Global Safety and Security (GSS). Therefore for the sourcing of flights, lodgings
and hotels that require a Procurement Committee, the business owner (a mandatory Committee role) must
be a representative from the Safety and Security team. Furthermore, all sourced hotels must pass a Security
Risk Assessment prior to use. The requisitioning / approval of all international business trips must have an
approved Travel Authorisation Request (TAR) prior to travel. The Travel Policy is owned by GSS and its
compliance is managed by the Global Travel Manager. Failure to comply with the Travel Policy may result in a
rejection of reimbursements and could lead to disciplinary action.

10.7 Humanitarian procurement

For further guidance on procurement in Humanitarian context, refer to the Humanitarian Procurement
Annex.

10.8 Bonding requirements

Bonding is a process to secure an advance payment or material commitment from a supplier until some
criteria is met to reduce the impact of a perceived risk e.g. supplier bankruptcy, security of supply,
completion of contracted work or supply outcomes. They can also be used to safeguard the interest of SCI
in a fragile environment or circumstances where suppliers are not reliable. Bonding requirements may be set
subject to the discretion of a country office. It can be met by the following options or financial instruments:
a) Bid guarantee: A bond or guarantee or other negotiable instrument from each bidder up to 5 % of
the bid price, as an assurance that the bidder will execute the stipulations in the bidding documents
or contractual obligations
b) Performance bond: A guarantee or commitment up to the Contract value to secure contractor’s
obligation under contracts.
c) Retention money. SCI may retain a part of the Contract value after its completion (if stipulated in the
signed Contract) until a specified date or period after which supplier has completed the delivery of
goods or services. In the interim period, SCI will conduct an assessment on quality of work and upon
satisfactory performance release the payment.

10.9 External Workforce

External Workforce Services cover a variety of services including programmatic consultants, management
consultants, freelancers as well as contingent / temporary workers / staff to back fill SCI roles. Refer to the
Consultancy Services Procurement Procedure to determine if the spend should be managed by HR or
Procurement procedures. Spend defined as Consultancy Service Providers and Freelancers providing
deliverable based services as per the Consultancy Services Procurement Procedure should be managed in
accordance with this procedure.

10.10 Insurance
Non-Employee Insurance
SCI have appointed a global broker for non-employee insurance premiums (new and renewal policies). It is
mandatory to use the appointed broker (or their representative) to procure non-employee insurance
premiums. To purchase or renew a non-employee Insurance policy (premium), contact the broker (or their
local representative) with a minimum of 4 months’ notice. Contact details for the broker (or their local
representative) are available from Country Office Finance Directors. For further information please refer to
the Procurement SharePoint page for Insurance.
Employee Insurance
The global approach for managing employee insurance spend is currently under review. Please refer to the
Procurement SharePoint page for Insurance for the latest status.
 11 Annex 1: Glossary of Terms
Term Abbr. Definition
Award Grant
Budget Holder Individual who has a delegated financial budgetary responsibility to manage budgets on behalf of SCI

Competitive Bid CBA Form used to compare suppliers’ quotations and tender responses, both in terms of Commercial and Capability
criteria relevant in making the supplier selection. A more detailed version of this worksheet can be used to
Analysis evaluate complex tenders.
A Contract is a legally-binding commitment between SCI and a supplier, committing SCI to purchase specified
Contract
volume/value of goods or services during a particular timeframe.
Framework FWA A Framework Agreement is an agreement between SCI and a supplier in which elements such as specifications,
payment terms, and/or delivery lead times are fixed. SCI does not make any spend / volume commitments to
Agreement purchase when entering into an FWA.

Gift in Kind GIK Goods or services received as a donation from a private or corporate source, another humanitarian
organisation, foundation or institutional donor. This includes food aid and commodities.

Goods Received Note GRN Form used to acknowledge receipt of goods into the program or a SCI location/office. The goods should be
checked by both Supply Chain and the Requester.
A series of commercial terms used to communicate the tasks, costs and risks associated with the transportation
Incoterms
and delivery of goods on an international basis.
Document prepared for clarity or notification purposes They may require sign off by the Budget Holder as per
Note to File
Scheme of Delegation or the Procurement Committee
Term used for USAID and OFDA awards to describe the country where a commodity is mined, grown or
Origin
produced.
Primary Supplier that is identified after competitive process against a FWA. It is the supplier of the lowest total
Primary Supplier
cost product or service that meets the core business requirements and essential criteria. In case goods or
(FWA) services are not available from the Primary Supplier, the Back-up supplier(s) must be used.
Supplier status in a Supplier database mainly represents those suppliers that have been selected after a
Preferred Suppliers competitive process and due diligence checks. These suppliers have passed an evaluation criteria/Due Diligence
checks for certain categories of goods and services and are assumed to be the most eligible suppliers in market.
Procurement is the name of the function that includes Sourcing, Strategic Sourcing, Supplier Management and
Procurement
Procurement Operations (that enables Purchasing).
The process of buying, calling off or ordering goods and services from a previously sourced Contract or FWA.
Purchase / Purchasing When a supply arrangement is not in place, Purchasing will trigger a sourcing activity. The key documents are the
Purchase Request and the Purchase Order.
PO Document provided by SCI to suppliers to commit to a purchase and its associated cost. The PO should always
Purchase Order be accompanied by terms and conditions of purchase, unless it refers to a Framework Agreement already in
place between SCI and the supplier.
Purchase Request PR Form used by the business to request supply of goods or services.
Request for proposals RFP Similar to RFQs but usually used for services or more complex goods.
Regional Procurement RPU
Regional hubs of Procurement based in each Regional office.
Unit
RFQ Form used to request quotations from suppliers for goods or services. Should include information for the
suppliers regarding the required goods and services, expected delivery date, SCI’s terms and conditions of
Request For Quotation
purchase, payment terms etc.; and ask for information back including prices, availability etc. to meet the needs of
the program.
SOD Financial approval levels, by role and decision type. The key authorities of relevance to procurement are: 1.
Scheme of Delegation Authorization of expenditure commitments and 2. Authorization of exceptions to procurement procedures
(“Waiver limits”)
Supplier Database Database of suppliers available in the each market for a Country Office.
Services Completion SCN
Form used to acknowledge completion of services / works.
Note
Term used for USAID and OFDA awards to describe the country from which a commodity is shipped. (Different
Source
to Sourcing which is the process to select and Contract with a supplier)
Sourcing The process to select and Contract with a supplier. It is a pre-cursor to Purchasing.
A Sourcing Pipeline is projection, based on available information, of the sourcing activities (tenders and formal
Sourcing Pipeline
quotations) that are needed to be under-taken by a country office in the next 12 months.
Suspended Supplier Suspension’ means debar, discontinue or prohibit business activities with a supplier
Exception from policy in terms of carrying out the appropriate procurement procedure. Requires sign off from
Waiver or Derogation
Country Director, Regional Director and others in line with the ‘Waiver limits’ defined in Scheme of Delegation.
 1 Annex 2: Procurement Delegations / Approvals

SIMPLE QUOTATIONS FORMAL QUOTATIONS

SINGLE QUOTATION OPEN NATIONALTENDER
Purpose of signature (MINIMUM 3) (MINIMUM 3)
Activity Document to be signed
Global Maximum $101 - $1,000 $1,001 - $10,000 $10,001 - $100,000 $100,001

Country Thresholds local currency value local currency value local currency value local currency value
To confirm the goods /services required as per needs and timetable for delivery of the
Program Manager
Procurement project.
Plan (in Programs)
Plan To confirm available budget & donor compliance Awards/Budget Holder
To confirm the procedures required, and that timetable and costs are realistic Supply Chain/ Procurement
To initiate requirement for goods and correct technical specifications Supply Requestor
To ensure that PRs raised meets needs of program/office/function, budget availability/ donor
PR Program Manager/Budget Holder
Request for Supply Compliance.
(Purchase Request)
Verification and acceptance of PR for action. Confirms information is correct. Routes the PR
Supply Chain/ Procurement (notifying Global Category Owner for International Tenders)
for processing (e.g. to CO Procurement, RPU)
Authorization to Confirms information on the form is accurate. Program requester or Program Manager
Temporarily waive the Confirms requirement for waiver from donor compliance & commitment to spend on this
Delegated Financial Authority / Budget Holder (as per SoD)
Procurement Waiver
procurement policy limits
basis Aligns to Waiver Financial SoD Approvals with Country-level approvals by Country Head of Supply Chain, Regional-level approvals by Regional Procurement Manager and center-level approvals
or process To confirm that exception is allowed under SCI Procurement Policy and Procedures
By the Global Category Owners (cc'ing the Regional Procurement Manager)
To assess the suitability of product/services offered (typical areas of evaluation focus are
Business Owner e.g. recipient of supply, program manager or ideally the budget holder (as per SoD levels)
delivery times, service levels, quality, key personnel).
To verify the procurement procedure used and to oversee the commercial aspects of the
Supply Chain/Procurement
evaluation (typical areas of evaluation focus are compliance to terms and conditions, price,

Sourcing (selecting a Competitive Bid Analysis

To verify the budget availability and stewardship of SCI financial resources (typical areas of
(CBA) or Email Program Manager / Budget Holder Finance/Awards
supplier) evaluation focus are risk, budgets, financial resources, supplier financial health).
Recommendation

To verify the specifications and / or standards of the goods and services (typical areas of
evaluation focus are quality, conformance to specifications and protocols, innovation, supplier Technical Owner (optional) e.g. functional leads or the custodian of specs
capacity and reliability)

BAF (Benefit Approval Confirm accurate baseline, best-efforts volume forecast and new pricing correctly documented Optional Submission of Benefits - Finance and Supply Chain Mandatory Submission of Benefits - Procurement Committee
Benefits Capture
Form)
Confirm the application of this methodology and the accuracy of the data / assumptions Finance representative Procurement Committee (Finance role)
Regional Procurement Manager /
Procurement process/policy compliance & optimal sourcing outcomes Regional Procurement Manager
Global Category Owner
Contract or FWA Contract and FWA
In case of deviation from the standard terms and conditions of the PO /Contract/FWA
Approval Request Form SCI Legal focal person (with 10 days’ notice in advance)
Approvals template or any potential legal risk
(CFAR)
Financial authorization / verification of budget (commitment to spend) Delegated Financial Authority / Budget Holder (as per SoD)

Confirms accuracy of contract/PO and procedural compliance to SCI policies Supply Chain/Procurement Country Head of Supply Chain
Order Placing PO/Contract
Financial authorization/ verification of budget (commitment to spend) Delegated Financial Authority / Budget Holder (as per SoD)

Goods Received Note Confirms receipt of goods into the program / completion of services Warehouse/ Logistics Officer / Recipient of Supply
Receipt (GRN) /Service
Completion Note (SCN)
Verification of quality and quantity Program Officer / Recipient of Supply
Document prepared for clarity/notification purposes( Often approved by PC members or
Procurement File Note to file Procurement Committee or Budget Holder
sometime required by Budget holders)

To ensure the supplier pool from whom we solicit bids from is as strong as possible and
Supplier Database Director Operations or Equivalent
Supplier Management meets our value for money and ethical standards.

Suspended Supplier discontinued or debarred or prohibited as per procedures laid down in Manual. Suspension Committee
Legends
Approvals as per SOD
Highlight (Financial Authorities) from
2014