ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides a basis for formulating procurement and contracting strategies that adjust to different capabilities, competitiveness and risk in the local supplier market. It considers three core components of procurement strategy: the packaging of work, the level of client control in the supply chain, and the choice of compensation mechanism. Illustrations are given from Brazil and Trinidad and Tobago. The book offers a detailed example of how one leading multinational gas company, BG Group, adapted its procurement process to facilitate development of the competitiveness of a local contractor in Trinidad and Tobago. It considers how procurement in aid programmes might follow the lead of the extractive industries so that, in the process of executing road, education, healthcare and other development projects, this aid concurrently stimulates private sector development through the creation of sustainable jobs and competitive suppliers within local supply chains.
