Procurement stipulates activities to buying of goods and services for a certain business entity.

Again, a crucial administrative task is the use of reduction of cost and long-term tactical
techniques to control the outgoing expenses. The organization has to assess different suppliers
in order to ensure that the patient record system supplied is of quality standards in patients
care, i.e. meets the user requirements and obectives of the organization. A procurement officer
has to follo! various guidelines in order to ensure that the patient record supplied meets the
requirements of the users before he shortlists the suppliers.
"ne of the activities that the procurer should collect is the entire information concerning the
potential bidders !ho are !illing to supply the system #$hote, %&'(). *uch kinds of information
are financial situation, background of suppliers, and the key personnel. *econdly, the procurer
should request for supplier qualification !hereby the supplier qualification and capabilities are
gathered. The intention of requesting this information is in order to formulate a list of pre-
qualified suppliers.
The procurer evaluates and ranks the suppliers and creates a list of pre-qualified suppliers. The
suppliers should submit documentation containing their information, such as experience of the
patient record system, reference provided from other customers for similar !ork, financial
capability, pricing of the patient record system, verification of the applicable licences and
certificates, health, safety policies and staff training. The next step involves the request for the
supplier quotation. This is !here only the supplier identified through the request for information
!ill be requested to respond to the original competition #+oser, ,--.). Again, it is in this process
!here the unqualified suppliers shun the expense and the effort of preparing a comprehensive
reasonable response. The typical result of this procedure is a favourite supplier list.
To determine if a potential supplier is an approved national health service he or she must
complete a quotation form. The minimum of three quotations !ill be sought !here the market
permits. Again, a potential supplier must complete a tender package containing all his financial
stability, background of his supply and competence to take the identified product among others.
"ne of the methods of determining !hat the integrated soft!are application for patient records
management is required to have is through soft!are testing, !hich involves soft!are validation
and verification #*hen, %&&.). The importance of this is to ensure that doctors can fast access
both the current and historical patient records. /t also protects the patient information !ith the
role-based security adapted to each employee0s responsibilities and roles.The best selection
criteria to follo! are to evaluate the past performance and previous experience of the goods or
services purchased. *econdly, evaluate the relative level of sophistication of the quality system,
i.e. regulatory requirements. Assess on !hether the potential supplier is capable of meeting the
potential and current capacity requirement. 1ext, assess on the supplier financial stability.
Assess on his or her technical support availability. 2valuate on the total cost of dealing !ith the
supplier. 3inally, assess on the total cost assessment of the entire transaction. $ased on the
background and experience in the supply chain, the quality-based and price quality !ould be
the best approaches #"ffice, %&&4).
The contrasting thing bet!een these t!o approaches is that the supplier is selected on the base
of product quality unlike the price quality !here the supplier is selected on the base of the price.
The comparison of these approaches is that they both are involved in the cost reduction. Again,
they are used to encourage suppliers to deliver their products. The strength of the quality-based
approach is that the supplier is selected based on the quality of goods and services. 5o!ever,
the disadvantage is that he considers quality as the crucial factor ignoring other factors. The
strength of the price quality approach focuses on the quality of price and ignores other factors,
such as quality of the product #Andre!, %&&'). As an experienced procurer, the quality based
approach !ould be the best because the patient !ants a system that captures all the
requirements effectively and efficiently. To narro! the list of the suppliers to three, the best
mechanism to use is assessing on the qualification, requesting for a formal quote, visiting the
supplier by management, and collecting their information !ith other customers served by the
supplier. Through consideration of these factors, one !ould finally eliminate to three potential
suppliers.
Andre!. #%&&'). 6Procurement of electronic content across the UK National Health Service and
Higher Education sectors. Report to JISC eecutive and !K"N eecutive#. , ed. 7oughborough8
9niversity of :ales, Aberyst!yth.
$hote, ; <. #%&'(). 6Suppl$ management% Ho& to ma'e U.S. suppliers... ($ Ke'i R )hote#. ,
ed. 1e! =ork, 1.=.8 A+A +embership Publications >ivision, American +anagement
Association.
+oser, <. #,--.). 6Strategic purchasing and suppl$ management% * strateg$+(ased selection of
suppliers#. 4 ed. :iesbaden8 >t. 9niv.-?erl.
"ffice, @ $ " *. 6%&&4A, 6Suppliers#. 4 ed. 7ondon8 @reat $ritain, >epartment of Trade and
/ndustry, "ffshore *upplies "ffice.
*hen, B. #%&&.). 6Suppliers to multinationals% !in'age programs... ($ Joseph , )attat#. 4 ed.
:ashington, >.C.8 :orld $ank.