We at CDG source and select the best products or services for a certain category of your expenditure.

Unfortunately, lots of other processes are not run well, resulting in loss of large saving opportunities, delivery of poor quality products, or less favourable terms.

When selecting suppliers through our sourcing process, CDG works in collaboration with internal customers or budget holders.

Internal customers are buyer’s colleagues working in other departments, such as finance or manufacturing. They are the ones who originally raised the need for the purchase and who will be transacting with the Can Do Goods team. Internal customer involvement is usually highest (around 70%) at the specification stage and then drops to around 30% in subsequent stages.

Specification development

What are the needs of your internal customer i.e. the person who requires the product or service to be purchased? As buyers, we at CDG challenge and “translate” these needs in specifications that our suppliers can understand.

The objective for us at this specification stage is twofold:

Developing specifications in its turn is a 4 step process:

Market Assessment

Once, Can Do Goods has a clear picture of the business requirements, our next step is to formally invite suppliers to quote for your business requirements.

CDG formally approach the market via:

Request for Information

This is used to pre-qualify suppliers to whom we would send the RFQ.

An RFI is usually a simple and short questionnaire for the supplier, which enables the Can Do Goods to judge if the supplier is promising and has a good chance to win the business.

An RFI is optional. If we know the market relatively well, there is no need for an RFI. 

A Request for Quotation

This is a formal request to the supply market to quote for the business.

The RFQ is a more complex document with a company presentation, bidding instructions for suppliers, and detailed information about the project and requirements.

Negotiation

At the negotiation stage, the Can Do Goods team analyze the offers and select the most promising suppliers to negotiate with. Only then we are prepared for negotiation.

During the meeting, CDG's goal is to clarify the terms of the offer and get additional value beyond what has been offered, this might range from a lower price, a better quality product improved payment terms, etc. CDG concludes the deal with the best supplier at the end of this process.

Most suppliers build in a price concession in their first offer. To obtain this concession, we always:

Build competition – To get the best results at the negotiation stage, CDG always has two or more credible alternatives.

CDG team carefully analyzes all quotations to get a feel for a stretching but credible target.

Contract discussion

CDG prepare a formal contract with the supplier and limit your company’s exposure.