Paul Davies, Program Director at DCU spoke at the CPO Event March 2014

1. Dr. Paul Davis
Program Director DCU
Educational Standards for Purchasing
and Supply Management

2. Educational Standards for Purchasing and Supply Management
• ‘It is unwise to pay too much, but worse to pay too
little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money.
When you pay too little you sometimes lose everything,
because the thing you bought was incapable of doing
what it was supposed to do. The common law of
business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a
lot – it can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder,
it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if
you do that, you will have enough to pay for something
better’. John Ruskin (1819 -1900)

3. Educational Standards for Purchasing and Supply Management
• Professional Traits
– Specialized work in the officially recognized economy, grounded in a body of
theoretically based, discretionary knowledge and skill that is given special status in
the labor force
– Exclusive jurisdiction in a particular division of labor created and controlled by
occupations negotiation
– A sheltered position in both external and internal labor markets that is based on
qualifying credentials created by occupation
– A formal training programme lying outside the labor market that produced the
qualifying credentials, which is controlled by the occupations and associated with
higher education
– An ideology that asserts greater commitment to doing good work than to economic
gain and to the quality rather than the economic efficiency of work

4. Educational Standards for Purchasing and Supply Management

5. Educational Standards for Purchasing and Supply Management
• Case Study
• Results based on two surveys , carried out 12 months apart using e-tenders – focused on
buyers, response was 600, and 750 , with approx 68% completion rates
• Low Uptake of Training
– Just over half of public procurers have undertaken training in public sector procurement in the
last 3 years
• Low Levels of Procurement-specific Qualifications
– Only 22% of public procurers hold a qualification in procurement or supply chain
management
• These range from level 5 FETAC to level 9 Masters, but some are claiming certification that
does not fall within any qualifications framework
– Less than 10% of public procurers are members of a procurement professionals’
association.

6. Educational Standards for Purchasing and Supply Management
• Internationally
– Decline of professional associations
– Rise of degree level graduates
– Need to find a balance
– One option is for the professional to self regulate
• Global Standard in Purchasing and Supply Management
(www.psgstandard.com)
– Degree of equivalent – set as minimum entry requirement
to profession

7. Educational Standards for Purchasing and Supply Management
• Proposal
– Private sector
• Greater participation and ownership in and around
profession
– Public Sector
• Licentiate Approach