CIPS Procurement and Supply in Practice - L4M8 Exam Practice Test

A contract is written or verbal agreement, made between two or more parties that is legally enforceable. For a contract to be legally binding it must include intention of parties entering into the contracts. All parties must have the capacity to contract or be contracted. They must be of a sound mind, there should be a promise (offer) for per-formance from the other party and an exchange (consideration) of one thing for another within an agreement for contract to be binding, and there must be an acceptance of the offeror's offer by the offeree.

Corporate Social responsibility (CSR) policies state how organizations aim to contribute towards the community and how an organization portrays itself towards social impacts.

A sector is an area of an industry, e.g., private, public or third sector.
A public sector is a sector of the economy that is owned, finance and run by the government. This sector is financed with tax payer's money. And therefore owe the general public an ethical explanation towards all investment and decision.
Once the supplier that is awarded the contract has accepted, the buyer can tell the unsuccessful bidders. This usually happens through email or letter. The public sector is more likely to give feedback to unsuccessful bidders and also have to respond to any stakeholders that request information on why a supplier is not successful.
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Trade war is an economic conflict where countries make it difficult for global trading to happen. Trade wars can make importing products to a country very expensive. A recent example is the US-China trade war; prices were raised on us-built vehicles exported to China. This affected consumer the most as there was an upshot of price.

Assets are things that an organization owns regarded as having value and available to meet debt and generate revenue. The following are list of assets owned by Fullpower project, a shoe manufacturing firm;
1) Machinery,
2) a factory,
3) an innovative software,
4) skills of its personnel,
5) land,
6) Distribution network.
7) Its long time relationship with experienced suppliers of raw materials and Distributors of finished shoes.

Topics that are covered within ethics are;
1. Environmental factors
2. The triple bottom line: profit, people and planet
3. Adopting sustainable practice.
4. considering the social impact of organization's behaviors

Specification is a detailed description of what is required or needed. Due to certain reasons, needs sometimes increase in importance or lose their essence, therefore specifications need to adapt and develop to reflect the changing requirements of the consumer and also to comply with regulations and legislatures as this are amended.
Standard, regulations and legislation are continually evolving and new updated versions of existing guideline, as well as completely new initiatives one being released.

See the answer in explanation below.
Explanation:
Information gathered in relation to social impact for an organization is both qualitative and quantitative.
Fullpower consult is a project/procurement training company that has gotten a measure of its social impact.
The qualitative measure of the organization is its stakeholders perception. Stakeholders knows that fullpower will do all it can to always give the best value for money.
Fullpower has the policies to give 10% of its profit share back to the community, by sponsoring free trainings for both professionals and vocational.
Addition
Qualitative and quantitative measures of social impact
Qualitative
Stakeholder perception
Reputation
Good Ethical practice
Benefit to the economy
Quantitative
20% Reduction in emission
Amount of funding donated
Amount of train courses delivered
Percentage of Resources Replaced
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The procurement cycle is the heart of purchasing, sourcing and supplying and should be followed in day-to- day practice in the industry. The procurement cycle has thirteen stages. Contract award is stage 9, and the stages after the contract award are; Stage 10: ware house, logistic and receipt Stage 11: Contract performance review and continuous improvement Stage 12: SRM/SCM and contract management Stage 13: Asset management, lessons learned, end of life.

Whole life asset management is the process of evaluating the total price and all associated costs of a product to make an informed decision as to which option will provide the organization with the best value for money option: To achieve this the organization works at the following eight elements.
1. Identify need/objectives/risk: The first stage of the whole life asset management is the same as the first stage in the CIPS procurement and supply cycle: identify the need prior to any asset being procured; the need could be competition in the marketplace, raised/reduced demands or financial concern. Once this need has been identified, the objectives of the new assets need to be set, and this may include being more energy efficient, reducing cost or saving money.
Risk also needs to be explored. When investing in a new asset there are factors to be considered that may or may not be advantageous to the investment. These include; downtime, lost sale/revenue or associated cost.
2. Procurement: Procurement professional would have to source and arrange supply of the asset.
3. Construction: ones the supply has being arranged, then the designing and the manufacturing of the asset begins.
4. Commissioning
5. Deterioration/maintenance
6. Condition performance monitoring
7. Decommissioning
8. Renewal/replacement

In the decision to not run out of supplies, organizations can anticipate a peak were by it products will be in a high demand or a period of scarcity of raw materials and may want to increase the in-ventory. However, if this forecast is not accurate, it may lead the organization to holding excess inventory. This can expose the organization to some negative factors.
Acquisition Cost: The organization will incur an acquisition cost for the excess inventory which is inclusive of the cost of placing the order and the cost of purchasing the goods.
Holding Cost: The organization will spend more money holding the stock, trying to keep it in good condition by providing the required light, temperature, skilled handlers and so on.
Working Capital not adding value: This will off shoot the holding cost. Also valuable working capital in excess stock which in the time not adding value, can affect the liquidity of the business. This is also an opportunity cost and increase solvency.
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With the ever developing use of technology, organizations are often under pressure to keep up with numerous technological advances. Jobs could be created in line with technology. Advances in technology can also results in lack of requirement for human impact and as such, jobs could be lost. Though it can help save time and retain bulk files in no space.

Key performance Indicators (KPIs) and service level Agreement (SLA) are measures that demon-strate the effectiveness of a supplier. By using KPIs and SLAs as part of suppliers management, procurement professionals can monitor and evaluate performance and identify areas that need attention or improvement.
KPIs and SLAs are used for product and service contract respectively.
Two KPI
1) Number of defects: Not more than two defects is allowed on the generator and its accessories
2) Supplier Lead Time: Delivery after placing order should not be anytime longer than 14 days.
Two SLAs
1) The toilet should be washed with soap, and deodorant should be sprayed twice a day
2) Bathroom and toilet should not be allowed to smell out to the passage. Bathroom smelling out to the passage twice a month is a violation of the contract.
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