Procurement for the Real World

Signing the contract isn't the end of procurement. It's where delivery begins.

A supplier can win a competitive tender, sign a detailed contract and make all the right promises.

Then reality arrives.

Performance slips. KPIs become reporting exercises. Service reviews turn into meetings about meetings. Savings disappear. Issues remain open for months. Stakeholders work around the supplier rather than challenging them. And contracts that looked robust during the tender slowly become irrelevant to the relationship.

Manage the Supplier is a practical guide to turning contractual commitments into actual supplier performance - and dealing with the problems that emerge when delivery doesn't match what was promised.

Part of the Procurement for the Real World series, this book explores how to:

- Establish effective supplier governance from the start
- Build KPIs and SLAs that measure what actually matters
- Run supplier reviews that drive action rather than simply report performance
- Distinguish operational issues from genuine performance failure
- Hold suppliers accountable without destroying the working relationship
- Manage underperformance, escalation and corrective action
- Protect savings and commercial value after contract award
- Develop strategic supplier relationships where they genuinely add value

No governance theatre. No dashboards full of green boxes hiding poor performance. No pretending that contract management happens automatically once the deal is signed.

Just practical procurement principles, commercial judgement and better supplier performance.

Because you didn't procure a contract. You procured an outcome.