ABSTRACT
Fully collaborative procurement is the vision—a rational, collaborative procurement and delivery process, in which buyer and seller work together to optimize the results for both parties. The Collaborative Planning Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR) model is an ambitious extension into a multi-vendor environment that is meeting with some success. A common framework that supports a collaborative approach would eliminate direct and indirect costs for both parties, create a more effective project environment, and vastly improve communications by jointly establishing a set of ground rules and practices to guide the parties through procurement, project execution, and completion. Candidate documents or activities for inclusion in a collaborative practice include: short-listing, project initiation, scheduling, project status reporting, performance management, communications, changes, issues, reviews, deficiencies, deliverable acceptance, lessons learned, and project sign-off. A major challenge to the collaborative approach is abandoning the silo mentality and the reluctance to share information.
