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Procurement & sourcing · day rate or fixed fee · nothing taken from any supplier
Ask a procurement adviser one question before any other: who pays you?
Nearly every problem in this trade comes out of that answer. A percentage of savings pays whoever gets to pick the baseline. A rebate from a supplier is the supplier's fee wearing your coat. So the fee basis, the refusals and the conflict register are on this page ahead of any description of the work.
0Payments we take from any supplier
100%Of our fee paid by you, so you know whose side we are on
1Published baseline behind every savings figure
30 daysNotice to stop, either way, no exit fee
Put your own numbers in, but keep the first one at zero or take the section out. A supplier payment disclosed in a footnote is still a supplier payment.
How we are paid, and what we refuse
Two ways in, both boring, both invoiced to you. Everything below the line is a way of being paid that we will not use, with the reason rather than a slogan.
A day rate, invoiced monthly — Agreed before anything starts, with an estimate of days and a warning the moment it looks like moving. An overrun you hear about at the invoice is our failure, not a surprise
Or a fixed fee for a defined piece of work — Scope written down, deliverable named, price fixed. Better for a review with edges; worse for anything genuinely open-ended, and we will say which yours is
We do not work on a percentage of savings — It sounds free and it is the most expensive way to buy this. The fee depends on a number, and the person calculating the number is the person being paid by it. That is not a conflict we can manage — it is the whole engagement
We take nothing from any supplier — No rebates, no introducer fees, no commission, no marketing contribution, no paid-for place in a shortlist. If a supplier offers, you get told and they get declined
The fee is the same whether you take the advice or not — Which is the point. Advice you can ignore for free is the only advice worth paying for, and a recommendation is not an invoice condition
No exclusivity and no notice trap — Thirty days, either way, no exit fee and no minimum term. Work that has to be locked in was never going to be worth renewing
Expenses at cost, with receipts, capped — Agreed up front and never a percentage uplift. It is a small thing and it is the one people fiddle
Or a fixed fee for a defined piece of work — Scope written down, deliverable named, price fixed. Better for a review with edges; worse for anything genuinely open-ended, and we will say which yours is
We do not work on a percentage of savings — It sounds free and it is the most expensive way to buy this. The fee depends on a number, and the person calculating the number is the person being paid by it. That is not a conflict we can manage — it is the whole engagement
We take nothing from any supplier — No rebates, no introducer fees, no commission, no marketing contribution, no paid-for place in a shortlist. If a supplier offers, you get told and they get declined
The fee is the same whether you take the advice or not — Which is the point. Advice you can ignore for free is the only advice worth paying for, and a recommendation is not an invoice condition
No exclusivity and no notice trap — Thirty days, either way, no exit fee and no minimum term. Work that has to be locked in was never going to be worth renewing
Expenses at cost, with receipts, capped — Agreed up front and never a percentage uplift. It is a small thing and it is the one people fiddle
What a savings figure actually means
A saving is a difference from a baseline, and whoever chooses the baseline chooses the saving. This is the arithmetic behind most impressive procurement numbers, and it is not fraud — it is just never explained.
Three baselines, three completely different answers — Last year's actual spend, the supplier's list price, or the renewal quote you were about to accept. The same deal can be a two percent saving or a thirty percent one depending which you pick
Cost avoidance is not cash — Not paying an increase you were quoted is worth having and it will never appear in your accounts. Anyone reporting it beside real cash reductions, in one total, is hoping you will not separate them
A saving that needs a three-year commitment is a price for a commitment — It may still be the right deal. It is not a like-for-like saving, and the value of the flexibility you gave up belongs in the same table
Volume assumptions decide more than price does — A better unit rate on a volume you will not hit is a worse contract. Ask what volume the saving assumes and check it against what you actually bought last year
Have your own finance team sign the number off — Not the adviser, and not the category manager whose objective it is. If a figure cannot survive being checked by somebody it does not flatter, it was never a figure
We publish the baseline every time — Named, dated, with the source, at the top of the number rather than in an appendix. If we cannot show our working you should not accept our total
Cost avoidance is not cash — Not paying an increase you were quoted is worth having and it will never appear in your accounts. Anyone reporting it beside real cash reductions, in one total, is hoping you will not separate them
A saving that needs a three-year commitment is a price for a commitment — It may still be the right deal. It is not a like-for-like saving, and the value of the flexibility you gave up belongs in the same table
Volume assumptions decide more than price does — A better unit rate on a volume you will not hit is a worse contract. Ask what volume the saving assumes and check it against what you actually bought last year
Have your own finance team sign the number off — Not the adviser, and not the category manager whose objective it is. If a figure cannot survive being checked by somebody it does not flatter, it was never a figure
We publish the baseline every time — Named, dated, with the source, at the top of the number rather than in an appendix. If we cannot show our working you should not accept our total
What the work actually is
Spend analysis
What you buy, from whom, at what price, in one place. Usually the first time anyone has seen it whole, and usually where the easy money is.
Running a tender properly
Specification, a real shortlist, comparable responses and a scored decision you can show an auditor. The specification is where most tenders are actually won or lost.
Consolidation, and when not to
Fewer suppliers is cheaper until it is fragile. We will tell you where a second source is worth its cost, which is not a popular finding.
Renewals and notice dates
The notice date is the leverage and it passes silently. A calendar of every notice window is dull work and it saves more than most negotiations.
Supplier risk and dependency
Who could stop you trading, how fast, and what the alternative costs. Not a risk register for its own sake — a list with a plan against each line.
What we do not do
We do not sign anything on your behalf, we do not become a permanent layer between you and your suppliers, and we do not keep your data after the engagement ends.
The conflict register
Published rather than promised. Every adviser has relationships; the difference is whether you find out about them from the adviser or from the outcome.
Who pays us, on every engagement — You, and only you. Where any other party has any financial interest in the outcome, you are told in writing before the work starts rather than in a disclosure at the end
Any supplier relationship, declared before it is relevant — Past work, current work, a former colleague now working there. Declared even when it seems too small to matter, because that judgement is not ours to make on your behalf
We will not run a process a related party is bidding in — Not with a wall, not with a different consultant, not with your permission. The right answer is to stand down from that process and we will
Hospitality is declared and capped — State your own limit and publish it. A supplier's box at an event is not networking when they are in your shortlist, and everyone in this trade knows it
We do not own or resell anything you might buy — No software, no marketplace, no preferred-supplier panel we are paid to maintain. An adviser with a product to sell is a salesperson with a report
Your data: what we take, return and delete — Only what the work needs, returned at the end, deleted from our systems within a stated period, and never used to build a benchmark we sell to somebody else
When we get it wrong — We say so, in writing, with what it cost you and what we are doing about the fee. A profession that never publishes a mistake is a profession that never finds one
Any supplier relationship, declared before it is relevant — Past work, current work, a former colleague now working there. Declared even when it seems too small to matter, because that judgement is not ours to make on your behalf
We will not run a process a related party is bidding in — Not with a wall, not with a different consultant, not with your permission. The right answer is to stand down from that process and we will
Hospitality is declared and capped — State your own limit and publish it. A supplier's box at an event is not networking when they are in your shortlist, and everyone in this trade knows it
We do not own or resell anything you might buy — No software, no marketplace, no preferred-supplier panel we are paid to maintain. An adviser with a product to sell is a salesperson with a report
Your data: what we take, return and delete — Only what the work needs, returned at the end, deleted from our systems within a stated period, and never used to build a benchmark we sell to somebody else
When we get it wrong — We say so, in writing, with what it cost you and what we are doing about the fee. A profession that never publishes a mistake is a profession that never finds one
Three shapes an engagement takes
Spend review
$4,800fixed fee
- Two to three weeks, defined scope, one deliverable
- Every category you spend on, in one view
- A ranked list of where the money actually is
- Baselines named and dated on every figure
- No obligation to do anything with it
Category project
$1,150per day, invoiced monthly
- One category taken from analysis to signed contract
- Specification written with the people who use the thing
- A scored decision you can show an auditor
- You sign the contract, we never do
- Estimate of days up front and a warning if it moves
Renewal support
$1,900fixed fee per contract
- Starts before the notice window, not after it
- What the market actually charges for the same thing now
- A walk-away position agreed with you in advance
- Handled by you, with us behind it, or by us with you present
- Includes the notice calendar for everything else
Placeholder prices. Keep the walk-away line on the third column — a renewal negotiated without one is a conversation about how much of the increase you accept.
Brief us
A straight answer within two working days, including when the answer is that you do not need us. A category with one credible supplier and a fair price does not need an adviser, and saying so is cheaper for both of us than three weeks of work.
Tell us what you are buying
The last question is on the form because it is easier to answer now than to discover later. A conflict we can name is usually manageable; one we find out about halfway through is not.
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