Creating successful supplier relationships
Aim: to ensure that we select, procure and manage our supply chain effectively to serve the needs of our business and our clients well, and to safeguard our values and reputation.
Progress: We have established robust procedures to carefully select and manage our supply chain and ensure good procurement practices across the Group. Our supplier relationships are managed at Group level and at a local level by procurement specialists in our businesses. We also manage some of our clients’ supplier relationships.
In 2009, our Group Procurement team revised our procurement policy and framework, allowing us to consolidate our expenditure, maximise our purchasing power and ensure that we adhere to preferential terms and conditions across the Group. The policy states that when our employees are purchasing goods and services they act in compliance with our ethical standards and Corporate Responsibility (CR) objectives.
Assessing and supporting our suppliers and subcontractors
Capita has in excess of 15,000 suppliers, classified into one of 3 clearly defined categories based on whether they provide products or services to the whole Group, individual businesses or contracts. 25 strategic suppliers provide services worth £130m across the whole Group and their contracts are negotiated centrally by the Group Procurement team.
All our suppliers are required to undergo our supplier assessment process. We also evaluate their supply chains. Our rigorous selection and continuous review process ensures their business and the products and services they provide are compliant with all relevant policies and guidelines and enables us to choose suppliers who reflect our values and standards.
We provide all suppliers the opportunity to work with us and are committed to removing any barriers to entry for SME’s and minority owned companies in trading with us.
When we work with subcontractors they are also required to meet our stringent criteria. We have a subcontracting policy and a dedicated resource within our Group Procurement team who checks that they work within our framework.