PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

In this case study, we find a procurement department in a certain university that is led by a procurement specialist called Tom Drake. In this university, there are procurement staff members that have been hired to evaluate bids of vendors and to write proposals to vendors regarding transactions of businesses. Currently, there is a communication department that wishes to buy new telephone systems campus wide. Kathy Kline, one of the members of these departments, is therefore, working closely, with this procurement specialist so as to come up with the proposal of the purchase of these new telephone systems. The telephone system that is currently in the university has been installed for the past fifteen years by a regional company. A few years ago the regional company that installed the telephone system with another vendor have supplied add-on equipment’s to a few of their departments but there are complains that these add-ons are very expensive. This has however forced Tom to get into the situation that the departments with the old telephone systems are still in, and work on it.

To ensure that all the bidders have equal chances to participate in the bid process, Tom Drake should first address his procurement staff to write a proposal to the regional company in regard to bidding. this is because these departments, have utmost good faith in the regional company for fifteen years , hence threatens to quit their jobs, if the bid does not go to this respective company. However, this regional company is very expensive something that is not pleasant to the communications department. Price reduction by the regional will therefore be of great success. Since the departments has really insisted that the telephone systems that are new must use the quick dial that already exists, Tom should go ahead and communicate to both the regional and the vendors and advise them to come with an agreement of a fair prices strategy so that they can both work together following the systems that regional had fixed there earlier. This will therefore enable equal participation and departments will also be pleased for the honor of their opinion.

According to Denhardt & Blanc, (2014), the procurement office can avoid the practice of vendors helping buyers to write a bid proposal by employing procurement staff members who are specialized and who can act as intermediaries and write proposals on behalf of these buyers. This is because, these staff members have the capability of the negotiation strategies that should be employed and included in the proposals in order to make the bidding process successful and to meet the buyer’s needs respectively.  It also saves time because there is no direct involvement between buyers and the vendors to negotiate on the bids Jreisat, (2011).

If the quick dial equipment that has already been purchased gets scrapped, thousands of dollars will be wasted hence Tom will have the responsibility in regards to the taxpayers. Tom should therefore ,try all the means and ensure that the existing equipment’s is still worked upon so as to avoid the huge amounts of costs that he will be faced with to the taxpayers, following these disruptions. While trying to satisfy needs of both vendors and the communication departments, Tom should be wise enough while making his decisions throughout the bidding process so as to avoid all the risks and the losses that might be incurred because of  inappropriate decisions

References

Denhardt, R., Denhardt, J. & Blanc, T. (2014). Public administration : an action orientation. Boston, MA: Wadsworth, CenGage Learning.

            Jreisat, J. (2011). Globalism and Comparative Public Administration. Hoboken: CRC Press.