Procurement Strategy & Buying Schedule
Risk mitigationFixed FeeFor Main Contractors & Clients10 working days
I divide the works into packages, write each boundary so nothing falls between them, map each package to its allowance and set the date it must be let for the trade to reach site on programme. The buying chain starts with knowing what must be bought, who owns the joins and how much time remains to buy it.
The problem
A programme can show trades arriving on site without saying when each package has to be let, what sits inside it or where its boundary meets the next trade. Allowances then sit against work nobody has divided properly, interfaces fall between packages and a long-lead item is discovered only when its time has already gone. Buying starts as a series of urgent enquiries rather than a plan, and the programme carries dates the procurement route can no longer support.
The solution
I turn the available programme, design information and budget into a buying schedule. The works are divided into packages with written boundaries, each mapped to its allowance, route, periods and required letting date. Every interface has a named owner, and long-lead items are tested against the time remaining. The findings show where the plan already cannot hold, so the recommendation names the packages already late rather than allowing them to look merely pending.
What you receive
A review and findings report with the buying schedule appended. Every package shows its boundary, allowance, route, periods and dates; every interface has a named owner; every long-lead item is tested against the time remaining; and the recommendation names the packages already late.
The Handover Pack accompanies the work with its dates and sources, likely outcomes and responses, scope boundaries and ready-to-send correspondence where needed.
Turnaround: ten working days.
The working days start when the agreed scope and required inputs are available. Optional items do not hold the start unless the agreed scope says otherwise.
How it works
You tell me how the works are to be bought
You set out the project position, the buying decisions ahead and anything already committed, so the review starts from the work that is still capable of being planned.
You send the programme, design information and budget
The list below gives the review the trade starts, current scope, allowances and commitments it needs.
- A
The construction programme, with trade start dates
EssentialWithout it: There are no site dates, so no buy-by date can be derived and the schedule has no spine
Where to find it: Your programme software export, with the revision number and date on it. If it is still moving, say which dates are firm.
Why I need it: Every buy-by date is worked back from a site date
- B
Drawings and specification, at whatever stage
EssentialWithout it: The packages cannot be drawn, because there is nothing to divide
Where to find it: The design team's issue, at whatever stage it has reached. Incomplete is fine and expected; say what stage it is at.
Why I need it: What is being bought, and where the packages divide
- C
The budget or cost plan, by element or trade
EssentialWithout it: Packages carry no allowance, so the schedule says when to buy but not what it may cost
Where to find it: Your own cost plan, or the budget held by whoever authorised the works. Send its date and its build-up.
Why I need it: What each package has to be bought within
- D
Any packages already let or committed
EssentialWithout it: A package already let is repackaged on paper, and its interfaces are drawn against a boundary that no longer exists
Where to find it: Your buying record or order register, with the value and the scope of each as placed.
Why I need it: They are out of scope and their boundaries are fixed
- E
The intended subcontract form, and the enquiry and order periods you normally use
ImportantWithout it: Standard periods are assumed, and every buy-by date on the schedule rests on the practice's assumption rather than your own process
Where to find it: Your buying department's standard order, and whoever runs the buying can usually say the periods from memory.
Why I need it: The periods that every buy-by date is worked back through
- F
Known long-lead items and any directed suppliers
ImportantWithout it: Long leads are found by the tenderers rather than by the schedule, which is months too late to act on
Where to find it: Your own experience of the trades on this job, plus anything the design team has flagged. Directed or nominated suppliers usually sit in the employer's requirements.
Why I need it: Lead time, not package value, is what makes a package urgent
- G
What the main contract says about subletting
ImportantWithout it: A package is scheduled to a route the main contract does not permit, and the consent period is not in the buy-by date
Where to find it: Your own executed main contract, the subletting and assignment clauses.
Why I need it: Some packages cannot be let to whom you like, or not without consent
Copies are fine. Send what you have and I'll tell you what's missing. Download the client request PDF or editable Word version to pass to whoever holds the files.
- A
I divide the works into buying packages
I identify the packages the works require and write the boundary of each one, so nothing is left between trades by accident.
I map each package to its allowance and route
Each package is set against the relevant allowance and buying route, with the periods and dates needed to reach site on programme.
I test interfaces and long-lead items
Every interface is given a named owner, and each known long-lead item is tested against the time remaining before it is needed.
I issue the findings and buying schedule
I record the package position and recommendation, naming the packages already late so the next buying decisions are made against the real position.
I hand over the findings and buying schedule
Free Service Pack
A step-by-step Handbook, with the templates and working documents you need to carry out the work it covers yourself. You supply your own project information and records.
Follow the Handbook's scope and stopping points, and obtain independent advice where required. The pack is not project-specific advice or independent sign-off.