Procurement delays: find the real cause before you train
When tenders stall, bids expire or contracts start late, the first answer is often "more training". Sometimes that is right. Often the delay comes from approvals, unclear roles or timelines that were never realistic. Training cannot fix those, and money spent on the wrong answer makes the next delay harder to explain.
Three causes, three different answers
Capability
Evaluation reports are sent back, specifications are copied from old tenders, or staff are unsure of the rules of the financing institution.
Answer: practice-based training and coaching on the team's own files.
Approvals and process
Files wait for signatures, committees meet late, no-objection requests are incomplete, or nobody owns the next step.
Answer: map the approval chain, set service times and fix the hand-offs. Training alone will not help.
Time and validity risk
Bid validity runs out, prices are no longer realistic, or the plan never allowed for review periods.
Answer: a realistic procurement plan with buffers, and early extension requests.
What to look at first
- Where the file waited longest: preparation, evaluation, approval or contract signature.
- How many times a document was sent back, and why.
- Whether bid validity or price validity was close to running out.
- Whether one person or committee appears in most of the waiting time.
The free delay analyser asks these questions and shows which of the three causes is most likely, with the next steps for each. You can then turn the result into a short brief for us, and we reply with a proportionate proposal: a review of the process, a targeted workshop, or both.
When the answer is capability
Upcoming programmes in procurement and contract management:
- Sub-National Capital Investment Auditing and Municipal Grants in Kigali
- Sub-National Fiduciary Auditing and Communal Grant Verification in Dakar
- Community Health Worker Logistics and Child Nutrition Delivery in Kigali
- National Fibre Optic Backbone Contracting and Telecom PPPs in Geneva
More on how we work in procurement: Public procurement capability.