Part I: Policy and economic issues Part II: Pharmaceutical management Part III: Management support systems

Selection
Procurement
18 Managing procurement
19 Quality assurance for pharmaceuticals
20 Quantifying pharmaceutical requirements
21 Managing the tender process
Distribution
Use

CHAPTER 18
Managing procurement

Summary 18.2 I L L U S T R AT I O N S

18.1 Introduction 18.3 Figure 18-1 Procurement cycle 18.4

Figure 18-2 Impact of hidden cost on total cost 18.6
18.2 The procurement cycle 18.3 Figure 18-3 Comparison of procurement indicator results
18.3 Factors influencing pharmaceutical prices and total for six countries 18.17
costs 18.3
Unit prices • Reorder frequency and the total cost of B ox
purchasing • Visible and hidden costs Box 18-1 Good pharmaceutical procurement
18.4 Overview of procurement methods 18.6 principles 18.12
18.5 Good pharmaceutical procurement c o U N T RY S T U D I E S
practices 18.10 CS 18-1 Hidden costs in the procurement process: examples
Reliable payment and good financial management • from nine countries 18.7
Procurement by generic name (International Nonproprietary CS 18-2 Pooled procurement through the Organisation
Name) • Procurement limited to essential medicines list of Eastern Caribbean States/Pharmaceutical
or formulary list • Increasing procurement volume by Procurement Service 18.8
aggregating demand • Formal supplier qualification and CS 18-3 Assessing regional collaboration of procurement
monitoring • Competitive procurement • Monopsony activities to increase access to HIV/AIDS medicines
and pooled procurement • Order quantities based on and commodities in sub-Saharan Africa 18.10
reliable estimate of actual need • Transparency and written
procedures • Separation of key functions • Product
quality assurance program • Annual audit with published
results • Regular reporting on procurementperformance
18.6 Organization and management of the procurement
and distribution functions 18.16
Supervision by senior management • Responsibilities in
the procurement process • Procurement office staffing and
management systems
18.7 Financial sustainability 18.21
Sources of funds for pharmaceutical procurement • Access
to foreign currency exchange • Reliable payment
mechanism • Financial support for the procurement office
Glossary 18.22
Assessment guide 18.23
References and further readings 18.26

cop YRIGHT © MANAGEMENT SCIENCES foR HEALTH 2012

18.2 PR O C u REm Ent

su MMary

This chapter focuses primarily on best practices for • Limitation of procurement to the essential medi-
health systems that manage procurement in-house. An cines list
effective procurement process seeks to ensure the avail- • Increasing procurement volume by aggregating
ability of the right medicines in the right quantities, at demand
reasonable prices, and at recognized standards of qual- • Formal supplier qualification and monitoring
ity. Pharmaceuticals may be acquired through purchase, • Competitive procurement
donation, or manufacture. • monopsony commitment
The procurement cycle involves the following steps— • Order quantities based on reliable estimate of fore-
casted actual need
• mobilize procurement team and key players • transparency and written procedures
• Review medicine selections • Separation of key functions
• Specify quality standards • Product quality assurance program
• Determine quantities needed • Annual audit with published results
• Reconcile needs and funds • Regular reporting of procurement performance
• Choose procurement method indicators
• Locate and select suppliers
As described in Chapter 8, different systems for manag-
• Specify contract terms
ing supply chains for public health systems include the
• monitor order status
central stores system, autonomous supply agency system,
• Receive and check medicines
direct delivery system, primary distributor system, pri-
• make payment
vate pharmacy system, or often a mix of these systems.
• Distribute medicines
All involve pharmaceutical procurement.
• Collect consumption information
The major procurement methods used by health systems Procurement may proceed under different purchasing
are open tender, restricted tender, competitive negotia- models—annual purchasing, scheduled purchasing, or
tion, and direct procurement, which vary with respect to perpetual purchasing. Different combinations of these
their effect on price, delivery times, and workload of the models may be used at different levels of the system or for
procurement office. In recent years, some public-sector different medicines.
procurement systems (particularly in Latin America) Effective procurement is a mechanism for managing
have introduced e-procurement (Internet tendering) the buyer-seller relationship to ensure transparent and
and more specifically the “reverse auction” approach, ethical transactions that result in the buyer receiving the
although these methods have not been widely used to correct goods and the seller receiving timely payment. A
procure pharmaceuticals. Funding sources (governments collaborative process is needed between the procurement
and donors) often dictate which procurement method office, with requirements for trained staff and appro-
to use. Finally, some developing-country health systems priate management systems, and technical and policy
purchase medicines and health commodities directly committees, which may make final decisions as to which
from international procurement agents, many of which medicines to buy, in what quantities, and from which
are based in Europe. suppliers.
Key principles of good pharmaceutical procurement for Key considerations for financial sustainability include
health systems include— reliable access to funds for pharmaceutical purchase and
support of the procurement office, access to foreign cur-
• Reliable payment and good financial management
rency exchange for international procurement, and reli-
• Procurement by generic name
able payment mechanisms.
• Clear specification of a recognized pharmaceutical
quality standard
 18 / Managing procurement 18.3

18.1 Introduction procurement have had mixed results, although there are
some long-standing regional programs that have achieved
The pharmaceutical procurement system is a major deter- some successes. At the global level, united nations agen-
minant of pharmaceutical availability and total pharmaceu- cies such as unICEF, united nations Population Fund,
tical costs. In most developing countries, pharmaceutical and united nations Development Programme have long
purchases represent the single largest health expenditure functioned as pooled procurement systems serving their
after personnel costs. Pharmaceuticals also consume the country programs. In recent years, a number of new global
major share of health-related foreign currency exchange. procurement mechanisms have emerged, such as the Stop
An effective procurement process should— tB Global Drug Facility, the u.S. President’s Plan for
Emergency AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)–funded Supply Chain
• Seek to manage the buyer-seller relationship in a trans- management System (SCmS), and the Global Fund to Fight
parent and ethical manner AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria’s voluntary pooled pro-
• Procure the right medicines in the right quantities curement system.
• Obtain the lowest practical purchase price Although the procurement chapters in this manual are
• Ensure that all pharmaceuticals procured meet recog- written primarily with public-sector procurement programs
nized standards of quality in mind, the principles and procedures can be applied to
• Arrange timely delivery to avoid shortages and stock- either public or private procurement at any level, from a
outs rural aid post to a national health program. The details of
• Ensure supplier reliability with respect to service and procurement at various levels may be slightly different, but
quality the basic steps are the same.
• Set the purchasing schedule, formulas for order quan-
tities, and safety stock levels to achieve the lowest total
cost of purchasing at each level of the system 18.2 The procurement cycle
• Achieve these objectives in the most efficient manner
possible The procurement cycle includes most of the decisions and
actions that determine the specific medicine quantities
Given the impact of procurement activities on the opera- obtained, prices paid, and quality of medicines received.
tion and effectiveness of health services, it is essential that Procurement is defined here as the process of purchasing
these activities be performed by competent staff using sound supplies directly from national or multinational private or
procedures, working in adequate offices with good commu- public suppliers; purchasing through global agencies and
nications, and with access to reliable inventory and con- procurement mechanisms or regional procurement sys-
sumption information. Good procurement management tems; or purchasing from international procurement agents.
also demands medical, pharmaceutical, managerial, finan- These sources may be used individually or in combination to
cial, and often political expertise. meet the entire range of pharmaceutical needs.
Some developing countries have relatively successful Steps in the procurement cycle are illustrated in Figure
public-sector procurement programs, but in many coun- 18-1 and discussed in Chapters 9–15 and 18–21.
tries, pharmaceutical procurement continues to be less suc-
cessful, in spite of extensive reform efforts and substantial
financial assistance from aid agencies. 18.3 Factors influencing pharmaceutical
When a health system sets up a centrally managed phar- prices and total costs
maceutical procurement program, it is, in effect, devel-
oping a form of a pooled procurement system serving Given the limited budgets of virtually all health programs,
health regions, districts, and individual health facilities. pharmaceutical procurement costs must be a concern of all
The purchases may be financed centrally through govern- policy makers, senior officials, essential medicines program
ment allocations or donor contributions, in a decentralized managers, and procurement staff. Pharmaceutical procure-
way through medicines fees, or through some combina- ment costs include several different components; some costs
tion of financing alternatives. Procurement may be man- are obvious and some are not.
aged through any of several organizational arrangements
described in Chapter 8 and discussed later in this chapter. Unit prices
Over the last twenty years, formal pooled procurement
programs have become common in some industrialized What determines the tender price of a container of 1,000
countries (known in the united States as group purchasing amoxicilline tablets or ten ampoules of adrenaline? There
organizations), and the factors that make them successful are many considerations involved in pharmaceutical pricing
are known. Regional approaches to multicountry pooled by manufacturers and distributors, and many factors that
18.4 PR O C u REm Ent

Figure 18-1 Procurement cycle

Review Determine
medicine selections quantities needed

Collect consumption Reconcile

information needs and funds

Distribute medicines Choose

procurement method

Make payment Locate and select

suppliers

Receive and check

Specify contract terms
medicines

Monitor order status

 18 / Managing procurement 18.5

cause prices to vary from country to country. A fundamen- curement process costs, but increases stock-holding costs.
tal principle is that increasing competition among suppliers The reorder frequency model may differ from one level of
and products usually decreases pharmaceutical prices. the supply system to another or from one type or class of
Several factors influence competition and pricing in any drug product to another. For example, consider a supply sys-
pharmaceutical market. One issue is how many different tem with a central medical store (CmS) and several regional
drug products and different generic versions of the same warehouses that serve hospitals and major health centers,
product are on the market. The “rule of five” in pharma- which then distribute to primary care facilities. The CmS
ceutical pricing says that in general the lowest competitive might purchase most items through annual tender; how-
prices are available when five or more generic alternatives ever, most countries can achieve lower total costs by pur-
for a particular product are available or when, in a tender, chasing at least some items more frequently. The regional
there are at least five bids per item (WHO 1999). stores might order from the CmS on a quarterly basis for
These factors can be influenced by government policies most items. The health centers and hospitals might order
on registration, licensing for manufacturing and distribu- most items monthly, with a weekly supplemental order, and
tion, authority to prescribe and dispense, generic substitu- so forth.
tion, and price control. In some markets, even sole-source The reorder frequency influences the types of procure-
suppliers may offer discount pricing to the public sector that ment methods and purchasing contracts that can be used
is not necessarily related to purchase volume to establish or (see Section 18.4). However, this works both ways; indi-
maintain market share or to negotiate with international vidual country circumstances (typically storage conditions
development entities. As discussed in Section 18.4, the and space availability) or laws and funding regulations,
type of procurement method used greatly influences how especially from donors, may dictate one sort of procure-
much competition there is among potential suppliers. The ment method or contract, which then limits the options
strategies and issues discussed in Section 18.5 also directly for choosing the reorder frequency. For example, if only
or indirectly influence the degree of competition and the fixed-quantity tenders are allowable under local laws, imple-
degree of discount pricing available to the health system. menting a perpetual purchasing model will be difficult. If all
pharmaceuticals are imported and average lead times are six
Reorder frequency and the total cost of purchasing to nine months, avoiding an annual purchasing system for
most items will be a challenge.
Pharmaceutical acquisition prices are only one part of the The systems and formulas used to estimate needs and
total cost of pharmaceutical purchasing; the other important define order quantities vary with the purchasing model
components are the costs associated with holding inventory, and with the availability of information on past consump-
the costs of operating the purchasing system, and the extra tion. The procedures for estimating annual procurement
costs incurred when stockouts occur (shortage costs). needs are discussed in Chapter 20; with scheduled or per-
Although procurement offices typically concern them- petual purchasing, order quantity can usually be deter-
selves mainly with pharmaceutical acquisition costs, the mined by one of the formulas from Chapter 23. However,
other cost components may increase the total purchasing some situations may require the use of a procedure such as
cost by 50 percent or more of the acquisition costs. For each morbidity-based forecasting to estimate needs for procure-
country’s situation, total purchasing costs can be mini- ment (Chapter 20).
mized by choosing the optimal reorder frequency model, as Chapter 40 presents total cost analysis as a method for
defined by the— compiling and analyzing the total costs of inventory man-
agement: pharmaceutical acquisition, inventory holding,
• Interval between orders—options include annual (one purchasing operations, and shortage costs. total cost analy-
order per year), scheduled (periodic orders, for exam- sis examines stable and variable costs for potential savings
ple, every three months), and perpetual (orders placed and helps managers evaluate potential changes in supply
whenever stock falls to a specified level) chain structure, and in procurement and distribution policy
• Safety stock targets, which vary according to supplier and procedure, in terms of the likely impact on total operat-
lead times, patterns of consumption, and service-level ing costs.
objectives
• Formula used for calculating the order quantity, which Visible and hidden costs
may be a fixed or variable quantity
As discussed above, the total procurement cost has four
The choice of reorder frequency models is discussed in components—pharmaceutical acquisition prices, inventory-
Chapter 23; these are not always simple decisions. Systems holding costs, purchasing operations costs, and shortage
minimize costs by striking the right balance between the costs. Some of these costs are easily visible to managers—
various elements—less frequent ordering decreases pro- the total expenditures for pharmaceutical acquisition or the
18.6 PR O C u REm Ent

salaries of procurement staff. However, the costs associated Figure 18-2 Impact of hidden cost on total cost
with shortages and poor supplier performance are not so Supplier A Supplier B
obvious; hidden costs associated with poor performance by Lower
total
the supplier or the procurement office include— early expiry and costs
disintegration of medicines
Commissions Lower
• Increased acquisition costs due to emergency procure- hidden for local agents
costs hidden
ment, such as when a vital medicine is ordered too Air freight for late delivery costs
late or usage exceeds estimates or the supplier fails to
Short packing
deliver on time
• Replacement costs when goods are lost or must be dis- Losses due to
carded because of poor packaging, improper shipping poor packaging
conditions, rapid spoilage, or short shelf life
• Replacement costs for short shipments, incorrect higher
concentrations of liquid preparations, wrong dosage visible visible
forms, and so on costs cost

• Storage, port charges, and administrative expenses due

to inefficient clearing procedures or lack of funds or
proper documentation
• Health and economic costs of stockouts resulting from
delay or default on delivery
ToTAL CoST = viSiBLe CoST + hiDDen CoST
The potential impact of hidden costs on the total cost is
illustrated in Figure 18-2. In this example, supplier A has
quoted a lower price, but additional expenses resulting from reorder frequency models—annual, scheduled, or perpetual
poor performance ultimately raise the total cost above that review—given the right sort of procurement contract.
quoted by supplier B. In a competitive tender, a large number
of suppliers with varying technical and commercial back- Open tender: Open tendering is a formal procedure by
grounds may submit bids, and their quoted prices will vary which quotes are invited from any supplier’s repre-
considerably. Because no cost adjustments for performance sentative on a local or worldwide basis, subject to the
are permitted to be considered during the tender assessment terms and conditions specified in the tender invitation.
process, once tender bidding has begun, the prequalification International competitive bidding, as specified in World
of suppliers based on past performance can help minimize Bank (2000; 2004b) guidelines, is a tender open to all
the impact of hidden costs. interested international manufacturers from World Bank
many of the hidden costs mentioned above can be member countries.
minimized through careful procurement practices, such Restricted tender: In a restricted tender, interested suppli-
as avoiding last-minute orders due to a lack of planning; ers must be approved in advance, often through a formal
however, other hidden costs are imposed or regulated by prequalification process that considers adherence to
the government, which may be more difficult for the pro- good manufacturing practices, past supply performance,
curement office to work around. Country Study 18-1 shows financial viability, and related factors. The prequalifica-
examples of hidden costs of medicines that are controlled tion process is often open to any supplier that wishes to
through national pharmaceutical policy. See also Chapter 9 apply.
on pharmaceutical pricing. E-procurement and reverse auction: E-procurement
is Internet-based tendering. In the reverse auction
approach (which is a variation of restricted tenders),
18.4 Overview of procurement methods qualified bidders submit an initial offer; the lowest offer
received is posted publicly without naming the bid-
There are numerous mechanisms by which governments, der after the first round; and then qualified bidders are
nongovernmental organizations (nGOs), and other organi- invited to offer lower prices than that posted low price.
zations manage their in-house procurement of pharmaceuti- The process continues round-by-round until no more
cals. Pharmaceutical procurement methods, at any level of a prices are submitted; then the lowest posted bid wins
health system, generally fall into a few basic categories: open the contract. This approach has rarely been used for
tender; restricted tender; competitive negotiation, includ- pharmaceutical procurement (with most experience in
ing international or local shopping; and direct procurement. Latin America); however, it may gain traction as global
Each of these methods can be used with any of the standard Internet capacity and use increase. Pharmaceutical qual-
 18 / Managing procurement 18.7

ity assurance requirements and related factors may limit with no licensing agreements that allow other firms to
the use of this model, at least in its current form. manufacture the medicine), the buyer basically has three
Competitive negotiation: In competitive negotiation, the choices—negotiated procurement, direct procurement,
buyer approaches a limited number of selected suppli- or selection of an alternative drug product.
ers (typically at least three) for price quotations. Buyers
may also bargain with these suppliers to achieve spe- International open tenders usually attract the largest
cific price or service arrangements. This procurement number of competitive offers and potentially the lowest
method is used primarily in the private sector, because prices. International tenders for pharmaceuticals are limited
public-sector procurement organizations are generally to primary manufacturers and commercial suppliers or to
forbidden from negotiating or bargaining with suppliers. international procurement agencies.
For example, global organizations such as unICEF, the Virtually all professionally managed pharmaceutical
Clinton Foundation, and SCmS have successfully negoti- procurement offices (that is, international procurement
ated reduced prices of antiretroviral (ARV) medicines agencies and successful government pharmaceutical pro-
with manufacturers. curement units) purchase most large-volume items by either
International or local shopping: As with competitive nego- restricted tender or competitive negotiation from a limited
tiation, in international or local shopping, the buyer list of reliable suppliers, such as private companies and
obtains at least three quotes from suppliers; however, global procurement mechanisms such as SCmS, the Global
bargaining or negotiation of any kind are generally not Fund’s voluntary pooled procurement, or unICEF.
permitted. Some procurement offices use a combination of methods:
Direct procurement: The simplest, but usually most expen- open or restricted tender for large-volume items, and com-
sive, method of procurement is direct purchase from petitive negotiation or direct procurement for lower-volume
a single supplier, either at the quoted list price or at or emergency supplies.
a negotiated standard discount off the list price. For In many country situations it may not be feasible or
single-source medicines (generally those under patent cost-effective to satisfy demand for medicines and obtain

Country study 18-1

Hidden costs in the procurement process: Examples from nine countries
understanding the many component costs related to influenced tariffs and charges was collected from the lit-
procuring medicines is an important step in reducing erature and through personal communication. The table
overall costs. Improving procurement practices can below shows the extensive variation and potential impact
help decrease hidden costs, but many costs result from that these types of costs can have on prices of essential
government policies. In a study of the hidden costs of medicines—which may be passed along to patients.
essential medicines, information on such government- Source: Adapted from Levison and Laing 2003.

Percentage added to prices of essential medicines

south
Hidden cost sri Lanka Kenya Tanzania africa Brazil armenia Kosovo Nepal Mauritius
import tariff 0 0 10 11.7 0 1 4 5
Port charges 4 8 1 4
Clearance and freight 1 2 1.5 5
Preshipment inspection 2.75 1.2
Pharmacy board fee 2
importer’s margins 25 15 10
value added tax 14 18 20 0
State government tax 6
Wholesaler 8.5 15 0 21.2 7 25 15 10 14
Retail 16.25 20 50 50 22 25 25 16 27
Total markup 63.97 54.22 74.3 74.05 82.38 87.5 73.64 48.08 59.26
18.8 PR O C u REm Ent

Country study 18-2

Pooled procurement through the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean states/
Pharmaceutical Procurement service
The Pharmaceutical Procurement Service (PPS) (origi- Pooled quantities: Each year, the nine participating
nally known as the Eastern Caribbean Drug Service) was countries project their expected purchases of formu-
established in 1986, with u.S. Agency for International lary items and forward these estimates to OECS/PPS,
Development (uSAID) support, to manage the pro- where management and technical staff review them. The
curement process on behalf of member countries of the individual projections are then aggregated into a single
Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). tender list.
Before the OECS/PPS, the pharmaceutical supply Competitive bidding: Suppliers are prequalified for the
systems of OECS member countries were beset with OECS/PPS restricted tenders. Prequalification is based
problems: disorganized procurement and management on submission of a vendor registration form and refer-
functions and poorly trained staff contributed to chronic ence checks with international agencies and procurement
medicine shortages in health facilities. Because of fiscal agencies that are listed as references. A single contract
constraints, countries were slow to make payments to award is made for each tendered product to a primary
suppliers and incurred large surcharges. The pharma- and a secondary supplier. unless quality or performance
ceutical prices paid by OECS states ranged 30 percent issues are a concern, the lowest tender price receives the
or more above those paid by other countries of the primary award. tenders are not split.
Caribbean, such as Barbados.
Supplier monitoring and quality assurance: The per-
Design of the OECS/PPS procurement program incorpo- formance of all contract suppliers (lead times, partial
rated a number of key features— shipments, quality problems) is monitored and reviewed
annually to determine which suppliers should continue
Selective list: Procurement under OECS/PPS is based
as registered participants. OECS/PPS solicits oral and
on the Eastern Caribbean Regional Drug Formulary and
written reports from member countries concerning
Therapeutics Manual, compiled from individual country
potential product problems and follows up with testing at
medicine lists representing large-volume items for which
the Caribbean Regional Drug testing Laboratory.
demand is consistently high. The OECS/PPS procures
approximately 80 percent of public-sector pharmaceuti- Variable purchase quantities by group members:
cals and medical supplies. Country-level purchasing offi- OECS/PPS estimates of purchase volume are not bind-
cers may purchase nontender items independently. ing on individual countries or on OECS/PPS, and no

competitive pricing entirely through locally managed pro- Integrated “local-to-global” supply chain systems: These
curement. There are global as well as some regional procure- mechanisms work directly with countries to coordinate
ment sources that can be accessed to augment, or if needed, demand and manage tenders and competitive negotia-
to replace locally managed procurement for a selected set of tions to establish best prices; manage global freight and
products. logistics systems to coordinate distribution; and operate
At the global level, united nations agencies such as in-house product quality assurance programs. The best
unICEF have long operated pooled procurement systems known such mechanism is probably the unICEF sys-
primarily serving their own country programs. In recent tem. In addition, SCmS now provides HIV-related com-
years, several other global pooled procurement mechanisms modities and services to countries that receive PEPFAR
have emerged along with the large increase in funding for funding.
procurement through financing mechanisms such as the Donor-supported global procurement agencies: Examples
Global Fund, unItAID, and PEPFAR. moreover, a number include the Stop tB/WHO Global Drug Facility, which
of nonprofit procurement agencies serve as suppliers to pub- purchases and distributes both first-line and second-line
lic and nGO health systems in developing countries; while tB medicines, and the Global Fund’s voluntary pooled
these are not pooled procurement mechanisms per se, they procurement mechanism, which purchases and delivers
do offer relatively small-scale purchasers access to “global” medicines and other health commodities to Global Fund
pricing. principal recipients.
Generally, three types of these global procurement mech- Nonprofit procurement agencies: These agencies purchase
anisms exist— and distribute medicines and other health commodities
 18 / Managing procurement 18.9

fixed procurement quantity or delivery schedule exists. Thirteen-percent fee to group members: With each
All OECS member states are charged the same contract order, an administrative fee of 13 percent of the payment
price, regardless of volume, for the duration of the con- amount is made by ECCB to the PPS account. (The fee
tract period. All tender prices are CIF (cost, insurance, was originally 15 percent.) This fee covers all PPS operat-
and freight) direct to the member country. ing expenses; no additional budget allocations have been
required. OECS/PPS became financially self-supporting
Monopsony commitment: member countries are
in 1989.
required to purchase items listed in OECS/PPS contracts
solely through the PPS system, from contracted suppli- The results of the OECS/PPS procurement program have
ers. OECS/PPS monitors this requirement annually. been extremely positive. After initial success with phar-
Reliable payment mechanism: Payments to suppliers maceuticals, the PPS has expanded its list of tendered
are managed by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank products to include medical supplies, contraceptives,
(ECCB), where each participating country maintains and x-ray consumables. It includes 700 items—about 70
a special revolving drug account. Suppliers are paid percent of them pharmaceuticals. Participating coun-
directly by the ECCB from the purchasing country’s tries benefited from an average 44 percent reduction in
drug account, and the individual countries reimburse acquisition price for tender products in the first OECS/
their accounts when they receive their shipments. An PPS tender cycle (1987–88) and an average of 37 percent
important element in PPS’s initial success in pooling between 1998 and 2002. Between 1997 and 2006, the value
procurement was its ability to pay suppliers promptly in of annual purchases increased by more than 100 percent.
foreign exchange within sixty days of receipt in country. The main challenges include late payments by member
However, in recent years, some OECS countries have countries, the opposition and influence of suppliers,
been slow to reimburse their country drug accounts, countries making purchases outside of the cartel, man-
resulting in suppliers withholding shipments to both the aging donations, poor forecasting, and small purchase
late and the on-time payers. An additional consequence orders.
has been the dwindling number of suppliers competing
in the tendering process, which can discourage the lowest Sources: Burnett 2003; WHO 2007.
prices in competitive bidding.

to public sector and nGO health systems in develop- • Financial mechanisms and payment to vendors
ing countries. Such agencies are often, but not always • Standard currency
donor financed. Examples include Action medeor, IDA
Foundation, missionPharma, and trimed. The difficulty in harmonizing these processes should not
be discounted, and some issues also affect global pooled
Regional multicountry pooled procurement has been procurement mechanisms. For example, the lack of harmo-
attempted over the years in different parts of the world, nization among national registration requirements often
but has rarely proven sustainable. However, some regional limits the capacity of a global pooled procurement system to
systems have achieved successes over time, including the establish supply contracts that will serve all target countries,
Pooled Procurement Service (PPS) of the Organisation of because the best-value supplier may not have registered its
Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), the Gulf Cooperation products in all of the countries. Over the years, regional
Council group purchasing program, and the Pan American groups, such as the Association of Southeast Asian nations
Health Organization (PAHO) regional programs for pur- and the Pan American network for Drug Regulatory
chasing vaccines and ARVs. Harmonization have worked to formalize pharmaceutical
undoubtedly, the primary consideration in developing a harmonization initiatives, often focused on pharmaceutical
pooled procurement system is political commitment; with- registration, and sometimes on procurement policies and
out it, the system will never succeed. But even with politi- regulations (see Country Study 18-2).
cal commitment, several aspects of procurement need to be Four models of procurement collaboration include
harmonized for successful implementation of multicountry informed buying, coordinated informed buying, group
pooled procurement mechanisms. They include laws, regu- contracting, and central contracting and purchasing
lations, and operational processes related to— (mSH/CPm 2002). Regional pooled procurement does not
have to start with a full-fledged pooled procurement sys-
• medicines regulation and registration of products tem. The first step might be simple information sharing
• Procurement processes and local preference issues between national or subnational procurement agencies. If
18.10 PR O C u REm Ent

Country study 18-3

assessing regional collaboration of procurement activities to increase access to HIV/aIDs medicines
and commodities in sub-saharan africa
Sub-Saharan Africa faces challenges in increasing access Information sharing Pooled procurement
to high-quality, affordable pharmaceuticals for treating
people living with HIV/AIDS. Even when antiretroviral Central
Coordinated contracting
treatment is available, its effectiveness is undermined by Informed informed Group and
lack of access to a constant and uninterrupted supply of buying buying contracting purchasing
antiretroviral medicines. Groups of countries in different Member Member Member Member
parts of the developing world have had success in pool- countries countries countries countries
ing their resources to more efficiently procure essential share undertake jointly jointly
information joint market negotiate conduct
medicines and supplies. Regional collaboration for the about prices research, prices tenders
procurement of HIV/AIDS-related pharmaceuticals and and suppliers. share supplier and select and awards
commodities was proposed as a way to increase access to performance suppliers. contracts
information, through an
these products in the fourteen countries belonging to the and monitor Member organization
Commonwealth Regional Health Community (CRHC) prices. countries acting on their
agree to behalf.
of East, Central, and Southern Africa. purchase
from selected
Regional collaboration for procurement suppliers.
Collaborative procurement covers a range of options, Countries Countries Countries Central
from simple information sharing to pooling of resources, conduct conduct conduct buying unit
combined with contracting and purchasing by an agency procurement procurement purchasing manages the
individually. individually. individually. purchase
acting on behalf of a group of facilities, health systems, or on behalf of
countries. The four models of collaboration assessed are countries.
informed buying, coordinated informed buying, group
contracting, and central contracting.

all the requirements to sustain an effective and efficient services in a number of countries, as well as with regional
formal pooled procurement system can be met, the group and global pooled procurement schemes, have suggested
can progress to pooling resources combined with joint a number of key principles, which Box 18-1 summarizes.
contracting and purchasing carried out by an agency act- These practices are applicable to individual procurement
ing on behalf of a group of facilities, health systems, or agencies as well as to pooled procurement systems serving
countries. Country Study 18-3 summarizes an assessment multiple health systems.
of countries in sub-Saharan Africa that was done to deter-
mine if a regional collaboration model for procurement Reliable payment and good financial management
was feasible.
In many countries, laws and government regulations or Prompt, reliable payment of suppliers has the single great-
the funding sources (that is, donors) dictate the procure- est influence on bringing down pharmaceutical prices
ment method to be used, often based on the value of the and keeping those prices as low as possible (see Country
goods being purchased. Chapter 21 focuses on the tender Study 18-2), but this area often receives inadequate atten-
process and compares the most common procurement tion. Given greater needs and limited resources, donors and
methods. funding agencies are increasingly disbursing funds more
readily to health programs with a history of strong financial
management, and in some cases, only to countries that have
18.5 Good pharmaceutical procurement strong financial management records.
practices Financial mechanisms such as decentralized, dedicated
pharmaceutical purchasing accounts may allow the pro-
Pharmaceutical procurement practices vary widely from curement cycle to operate independently from the treasury
country to country. However, decades of experience with cycle. Revolving pharmaceutical funds can help achieve this
essential medicines programs and many more years of expe- separation by establishing their own bank accounts and
rience with large government-run pharmaceutical supply their own working capital.
 18 / Managing procurement 18.11

Assessment ration for procurement requires dedicated human

The Rational Pharmaceutical management (RPm) Plus resources and a budget to conduct market research on
Program of management Sciences for Health adminis- pharmaceutical suppliers. A number of countries do not
tered a questionnaire to assess the structure of public- currently have the needed resources, resulting in the small
sector pharmaceutical management to support pooled proportion of countries ready to start this mode of col-
procurement in eleven CRHC member states: Kenya, laboration.
Lesotho, malawi, mauritius, mozambique, Seychelles, Coordinated informed buying strategy
Swaziland, tanzania, uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Before this study, no standardized approach had been used • Creating a mechanism for the collection, analysis,
to guide groups of countries in selecting the best model for storage, and dissemination of information on HIV/
collaboration. The methodology identifies favorable con- AIDS-related pharmaceuticals and commodities
ditions that point a group of countries toward a particular • Creating awareness of coordinated informed buying
model, based on the group’s characteristics. among decision makers and other relevant bodies
Assessment results • Developing capacity within member states to con-
duct informed buying-related market research
The assessment results showed that three countries— • Setting up and operating a coordinated informed
Lesotho, tanzania, and Zimbabwe—representing 27 buying system within the CRHC member states
percent of countries studied, appeared ready to initiate • monitoring program execution
coordinated informed buying. This method of collabo-
Source: mSH/RPm Plus 2004.
readiness of countries to undertake coordinated informed buying
90
80
70
60
Percentage

50
40
30
20
10
0
Kenya Lesotho Malawi Mauritius Mozambique Seychelles Swaziland Tanzania Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe

Efficient financial management systems are especially life-saving treatment. This price reduction has largely been
important if funds are limited and procurement priorities driven by procurement of generics, which has been well
must be closely managed. Being able to order pharmaceuti- documented (Holmes et al. 2010). All pharmaceuticals sup-
cals when needed and to pay for them on time reduces both plied to the health system should be labeled with the Inn
prices and stockouts. featured prominently, in addition to any brand name that
may be on the label. For more information on Inns see
Procurement by generic name (International http://www.who.int/medicines/services/inn/en.
Nonproprietary Name)
Procurement limited to essential medicines list or
Procurement by generic name—formally known as the formulary list
International nonproprietary name (Inn)—has become
the standard for purchasing pharmaceuticals that are avail- Virtually no health program can afford to purchase all phar-
able from multiple companies. Brand-name suppliers may maceuticals available on the market. A limited medicine list
compete, but their bids should be by generic name; they or formulary, defining which medicines will be purchased, is
may offer lower prices for certain medicines than generic one of the most effective ways to control procurement costs.
competitors, because they wish to keep their public-sector It simplifies other supply management activities and reduces
market share. Perhaps the most impressive achievement in inventory-holding costs as well (see Chapter 23).
recent years is the dramatic reduction in worldwide prices of The first step is to avoid generic duplication; after this, two
ARVs, which has led to a surge in patients who can receive main options exist for reducing the procurement list. The
18.12 PR O C u REm Ent

Box 18-1
Good pharmaceutical procurement principles
Reliable payment and good financial management • Enter into no separate deals with noncontracted
suppliers.
• Develop mechanisms for prompt, reliable payment,
which might bring down pharmaceutical prices Order quantities based on reliable estimate
more than bulk discounts. of actual need
• Establish financial mechanisms with separate phar-
• Develop reliable consumption records and mor-
maceutical accounts (for example, revolving drug bidity data.
funds) to allow the procurement cycle to operate on
a separate schedule from the treasury cycle. • Adjust systematically for past surpluses, shortages,
stockouts.
Procurement by generic name • Adjust for expected program growth and changing
disease patterns.
• use generic names (International nonproprietary
names) for fair competition. Transparency and written procedures
• Specify quality standards, not specific brands, for
medicines with bioavailability problems. • Develop and follow written procedures for all pro-
curement actions.
Procurement limited to essential medicines list • make information on the tender process and results
or formulary list public to the maximum extent possible.
• Select safe, effective, cost-effective medicines. Separation of key functions
• use formal approval procedures for procurement of
nonlisted medicines. • Separate key functions that require different exper-
tise.
Procurement in large volume • Functions that involve different committees, units,
or individuals may include selection, quantification,
• Concentrate purchases on limited list to increase approval of suppliers, and award of contracts.
quantities, reduce price.
• Specify divided deliveries Product quality assurance program
Formal supplier qualification and monitoring • Establish and maintain a formal system for product
quality assurance.
• use formal supplier qualification based on phar-
maceutical quality, service reliability, and financial • Include quality assurance product certification,
viability. inspection of shipments, targeted laboratory testing,
and reporting of suspect products.
• Approve suppliers before tendering (prequalifica-
tion) or after (postqualification). Annual financial audit with published results
• use a formal monitoring system to ensure continued
supplier qualification. • Conduct an annual financial audit to assess compli-
ance with procurement procedures, promptness of
Competitive procurement payment, and related factors.
• Present results to the appropriate public supervising
• use competitive bidding on all but very small or body.
emergency purchases to obtain the best prices.
• Allow only prequalified suppliers to compete in Regular reporting on procurement performance
restrictive tenders.
• Report key procurement performance indicators
• Evaluate suppliers after submission of bids in open against targets at least annually.
tenders.
• use key indicators such as ratio of prices to world
Monopsony commitment market prices, supplier lead times, percentage of
purchases made through competitive tendering, and
• Procure all contracted pharmaceuticals from win- planned versus actual purchases.
ning supplier.
 18 / Managing procurement 18.13

first combines the standard formulary process (Chapter 16) ucts and available supplies are not adequate to meet global
with therapeutic category analysis (Chapter 40). For exam- demand, the larger purchasers typically get first preference
ple, a program that regularly purchases cimetidine, famoti- from suppliers.
dine, and ranitidine (all therapeutically similar anti-ulcer However, simply increasing procurement volume may
medicines) might save substantial sums by restricting the not necessarily assure low prices; one recent analysis of
formulary to one of these medicines and combining the esti- global pricing of ARVs did not correlate volume and price
mated purchase volume into a single, much larger quantity for nineteen of twenty-four dosage forms (Waning et al.
of the selected medicine. 2009), and a study of e-procurement reverse auctions
The second approach takes formulary selection and (although not pharmaceutical procurement) also could
therapeutic category analysis one step further through com- not link product volume with reduced pricing (Shalev and
petitive tender within a selected therapeutic subcategory Asbjornsen 2010). However, in most circumstances, when
(Chapter 40). The medicine selection committee determines procuring generically available medications with multiple
which subcategories are appropriate for category-based suppliers, greater procurement volume will attract more
tendering and which medicines in those subcategories are competitive offers.
acceptable equivalents. The tender request specifies only the At the national or subnational levels, pooling procure-
therapeutic category rather than individual drug products. ment volume from many facilities or from several states
This strategy has been used for several years in some pur- or countries, restricting the medicine list, and eliminating
chasing groups in the united States and in the OECS and is duplication within therapeutic categories lead to higher
similar to strategies used in Europe for establishing reim- volumes for single items. In addition, the commitment to
bursement prices. awarding a single contract for the entire volume of each item
Any change from one therapeutically similar product raises suppliers’ interest in bidding and provides an incen-
to another should be carefully considered, particularly for tive for them to offer their most competitive prices.
medicines used in chronic treatment; patients using these A contract award to a single supplier does not mean that
medicines need to be monitored during the changeover, the entire volume must be shipped at once. many procure-
which can generate significant costs for care and treatment. ment services specify divided deliveries over the period
Efforts to limit the medicine list by reducing therapeutic of the contract as part of the contract terms, sometimes to
duplications will meet resistance both from pharmaceutical multiple delivery points. As discussed in Chapter 21, many
suppliers whose products are removed from the procure- supply systems use estimated quantity tenders, with orders
ment list and from some doctors and some patients who placed throughout the contract period as needed, using
prefer a wider range of choices. Suppliers may issue dire either a scheduled or perpetual purchasing model (see
public warnings of adverse impact on public health and Chapter 23). These strategies allow optimal use of available
patient care if their pharmaceuticals are not purchased. The storage and transport capacity, reduce inventory-holding
health system needs to be prepared to counter these claims costs, and ease cash flow constraints.
with carefully designed information campaigns. The potential pricing benefits from a single-supplier
Resistance from doctors can often be overcome by docu- award must be compared to the risks to commodity secu-
menting the cost savings possible with the restricted pro- rity in the event of unforeseen events (supplier failure, war/
curement list and pointing out the benefits of year-round civil unrest, industrial disruption, weather events, and other
access to the limited list rather than sporadic access to a instances of force majeure). In some cases, especially for
larger list of medicines. critical medicines, a risk analysis calls for a secondary sup-
ply source. moreover, when the volume of procurement for
Increasing procurement volume by aggregating individual items represents a significant percentage of the
demand total market for those items, it may be wiser to split contract
awards or negotiated contracts among multiple suppliers to
One of the essential characteristics of pooled procurement is preserve future competition and to assure the availability of
pooling the relatively small demand for a product from each reliable supply sources if the primary contractor is unable to
health unit to create a single larger procurement volume for perform.
that product. Increasing the total procurement volume for
any product increases the likelihood of favorable prices and Formal supplier qualification and monitoring
contract terms as long as there is sufficient competition in
the market. moreover, increasing procurement volume typi- All suppliers should be qualified through a process that
cally increases the number of potentially interested suppli- considers product quality, service reliability and delivery
ers who wish to win the business, and increases the loyalty time, and financial viability. The process for evaluating new
and responsiveness of suppliers who win contracts. When suppliers can include formal registration, reference checks
the market is tight for a particular product or set of prod- with past clients and international agencies, test purchases
18.14 PR O C u REm Ent

in small quantities, and informal local information gather- pooled procurement mechanism because the global or
ing (see Chapter 21). The global procurement mechanisms regional procurement office would manage competition.
such as SCmS and Global Fund voluntary pooled procure-
ment may insist that suppliers and their products either be Monopsony and pooled procurement
registered by a “stringent regulatory authority” or approved
by the WHO prequalification system (Chapter 19). A monopsony refers to a situation involving one buyer with
Although both prequalification (qualifying suppliers many sellers. This is the cornerstone of a pooled procure-
before the tender process) and postqualification (qualify- ment system—the group members act as one buyer.
ing suppliers after bids have been received) have been used maintenance of the procurement monopsony will be
in international pharmaceutical procurement, increasingly, most feasible when there is strong political will or when
health systems and the donors that finance procurement all members of the procurement group are voluntarily
prefer prequalification. In a postqualification system, the and enthusiastically participating. Perhaps the single most
procurement office evaluates the suppliers after it receives important factor in the twenty-five-year survival of the
the bids. Once the tenders are opened, the time window to multicountry pooled procurement system serving the
evaluate and award a contract is limited, which can lead to OECS has been political will and commitment of mem-
rushing through the postqualification process. Qualifying ber governments, although maintaining the monopsony
suppliers before the tender submission allows enough time remains a challenge that they must address constantly (see
for a thorough evaluation. And by first eliminating substan- Country Study 18-2).
dard suppliers from the tender process, prequalification A review of the two other successful regional pooled
results in a more efficient process by automatically qualify- procurement programs—the Gulf Cooperation Council
ing the lowest-priced bidder. and PAHO’s vaccine and ARV programs—identified vol-
no matter which supplier qualification model the health untary commitment as a critical factor of their success
system uses, the procurement office needs to make vigorous (DeRoeck et al. 2006). Each program has some flexibility.
efforts to assure that purchases come only from suppliers In the PAHO system, countries choose to participate or
that are known to provide quality products. not on a yearly basis, and in the Gulf Cooperation Council
Successful procurement operations ensure continued system, countries are allowed to purchase up to 40 per-
good performance by suppliers through a formal moni- cent of their vaccines outside of the system. But the major
toring system that tracks lead time, compliance with con- point is that once members have committed to purchase a
tract-pricing terms, partial shipments, remaining shelf life, certain percentage or quantity, they are expected to honor
compliance with packaging and labeling instructions, and that commitment.
compliance with other contract terms. A data file for each On the other hand, the lack of political will to sustain
supplier, which may be electronic or manual or a combina- the monopsony commitment is one reason the CARICOm
tion, should have copies of registration papers, references, (Caribbean Community) purchasing program for the pub-
special correspondence, complaints, and other anecdotal lic sector was unsuccessful in the early 1980s, and it was a
information. The information system should track the num- major factor in the failure of the FORmED system, which
ber and value of tender contracts awarded chronologically was tried in Central America in the 1990s.
and the value of total purchases from the supplier by year. The monopsony commitment should be monitored and
Procurement programs using restricted tenders should enforced. Frequently, local, regional, or multinational sup-
make special efforts to seek out potential new suppliers at pliers will offer low prices on a short-term basis to individ-
least every two to three years to maintain competitive pres- ual group members in an attempt to break the purchasing
sure on established suppliers. group. A transitory small benefit to one critical group
member will adversely affect all other group members, so
Competitive procurement they must resist these offers; otherwise, suppliers will lose
interest in the pooled procurement tenders, the group will
As discussed in Section 18.4, the main methods for pur- fail, and prices overall will rise. Decentralization in some
chasing pharmaceuticals are restricted and open tenders, countries has complicated the procurement issue by pro-
competitive negotiations, and direct purchase from a single- viding budget funds to lower levels of the health system,
source supplier. Supplier competition is key to favorable to procure their own pharmaceuticals, in addition to the
pricing, and most modern procurement regulations require centrally allocated procurement budget. This leads health
competitive procurement in the public sector; therefore, if facilities to purchase from more expensive, but in some
the needed products have multiple suppliers, then public- cases, more reliable private-sector sources, which leaves the
sector programs should use competitive bidding for all central procurement system with a severe financial short-
but very small or emergency purchases. This would not age because of lost procurement volume (mOH uganda
be required when purchasing through a regional or global 2008).
 18 / Managing procurement 18.15

Order quantities based on reliable estimate Broad-based committees should have the sole authority to
of actual need make contract awards. Information on the tender process
and results should be public, to the extent permitted by law
Accurate estimates of procurement volume are needed to and regulation. At a minimum, both bidders and health
avoid stockouts of some pharmaceuticals and overstocks of units should have access to information on the suppliers and
others in the case of guaranteed quantity contracts. In addi- the prices for all winning contracts.
tion, suppliers are most apt to compete for an estimated- When the pharmaceutical tender process is secretive, it
quantity supply contract if they believe that the quantities tends to be perceived as corrupt or unfair. There may be
specified are reasonably accurate. charges of cronyism. Whether true or not, such charges
The most reliable way to quantify future pharmaceuti- are damaging in that suppliers, health care providers, and
cal demand is to start with accurate past-consumption data patients lose confidence in the system. unsuccessful sup-
from all units being supplied, assuming the supply pipeline pliers may feel that they have no chance to win and conse-
has been consistently full. These data should be tempered quently withdraw from future tenders or submit only token
by known or expected changes in morbidity patterns, sea- bids. As the pool of potential suppliers decreases to a small
sonal factors, service levels, formulary changes or changes to set, price competition decreases and procurement prices
prescribing patterns, and patient attendance. unfortunately, will be much higher than necessary.
in many countries, past consumption data are incomplete Advocates for increasing the use of e-procurement sys-
or do not reflect real need because the supply pipeline has tems, and particularly e-procurement-mediated reverse
never been full. In such cases, the morbidity-based and auctions, cite transparency and the potential for reduced
adjusted consumption techniques discussed in Chapter 20 tender management costs as primary benefits; however,
may be needed to estimate procurement demand. as noted, their effectiveness in widespread application for
Expert technical assistance in quantification may be pooled procurement of pharmaceuticals remains to be seen.
useful in initial phases of the procurement program, with One study of public e-procurement in Chile (including all
local officials participating to gain an understanding of the products, not just pharmaceuticals) did not try to compare
methodology, particularly when applying the morbidity or relative transparency of e-procurement compared with
adjusted consumption methods. other methods, but it did show a minimal decrease of less
When funds are not available to purchase all the phar- than a half of 1 percent in administrative costs when com-
maceuticals listed in estimates, reducing the list according pared with standard methods and less than 3 percent sav-
to health system resources is required. The following three ings through overall price reductions (Singer et al. 2009).
tools, discussed in more detail in Chapter 40, can help with
prioritization— Separation of key functions

VEN (vital, essential, nonessential) analysis classifies medi- There are several key procurement functions, which typi-
cines in two or three categories, according to how critical cally require different expertise. In general, these functions
the medicines are for treating commonly encountered should be handled by different individuals, units, commit-
diseases. Priority is given to vital medicines. tees, or subcommittees. Such functions include—
Therapeutic category analysis applies economic analysis of
therapeutic choices to help select the best medicines for • Selection of medicines
treating common diseases while minimizing overall cost • Quantification of pharmaceutical requirements
to the health system. • Preparation of product specifications and quality stan-
ABC analysis assembles data from recent or projected pro- dards
curements to determine where procurement money has • Approval of suppliers (prequalification or post-
actually been spent, allowing managers to focus first on qualification)
high-cost and high-use items when considering ways to • Adjudication
reduce procurement costs. • Award of tender

Transparency and written procedures Without appropriate separation of functions, the pro-
curement process is much more susceptible to influence by
The appearance and reality of open and fair competition special interests. Suppliers or procurement personnel may
are essential to attract the best suppliers and the best prices. be able to bias medicine selection, manipulate orders to
Fair competition can be achieved by maintaining transpar- increase the quantities of certain medicines, prejudice sup-
ent tender procedures: formal written procedures should be plier qualification decisions, manipulate the final award of
strictly followed throughout the tender, and formal, explicit tender, and slant product specifications to limit competi-
criteria should be used to make procurement decisions. tion, for example, by selecting less common dosage forms.
18.16 PR O C u REm Ent

Separation of key functions contributes to professional- This includes compliance with procurement procedures,
ism and accountability. Section 18.6 describes ways in which promptness of payment, and inventory control.
a procurement system can be organized to separate these The auditor should issue a statutory audit report in accor-
functions. dance with legal regulations of the jurisdiction and, in
addition, should issue a detailed letter of comment to the
Product quality assurance program management of the organization and to the appropriate
public supervisory body.
An effective procurement program must ensure that the
medicines purchased and distributed are of the specified Regular reporting on procurement performance
quality, according to specified standards, which are clear and
recognized. Chapter 19 discusses three categories of proce- using standard indicators to monitor performance and pro-
dures to establish an effective quality assurance system— gram implementation (see Chapters 36 and 48) significantly
improves pharmaceutical management. Standard indicators
• Ensuring that only medicine products that meet cur- allow comparison of actual performance with targets, over
rent standards for quality are bought time and among countries. Some indicators use a standard
• Verifying that shipped goods meet the specifications list of ten to twenty indicator medicines, which are also called
• monitoring and maintaining the quality of pharma- tracer medicines or a market basket of medicines (Chapter
ceuticals from the moment they are received until the 48).
medicine is finally consumed by the patient The procurement office should be required to report on
key procurement performance indicators at least annually.
When managing pharmaceutical procurement by generic The Assessment Guide at the end of this chapter suggests
name and introducing new suppliers whose products are some procurement indicators. Indicators such as average
not familiar in the country, the procurement program must supplier lead time and percentage of key medicines in stock
be particularly alert to product quality issues. should be used to assess performance on a continuing basis.
Some products vary substantially in formulation and bio- These indicators should not be limited to the public sector
availability from supplier to supplier. When this difference but can be used by all organizations including faith-based
is therapeutically significant, purchasers should be cautious pharmaceutical services, nGOs, and private health insti-
about making changes in supplier from year to year, and tutions seeking to control their pharmaceutical costs and
particularly in accepting unknown suppliers. improve their performance. Figure 18-3 provides actual
Even when new products are completely equivalent in indicator data from several countries.
content and effect, changes in dosage form can be problem-
atic, requiring patient and provider re-education. For medi-
cines used primarily in chronic therapy, changes should 18.6 Organization and management of the
only be made to effect a significant cost savings. procurement and distribution functions

Annual audit with published results One important policy issue facing senior managers is how
to structure the procurement program and supply chain
At least once a year, the procurement unit should undergo a system and how to divide the responsibilities. Chapter 8
financial and procurement audit, which is a formal examina- describes five different supply chain systems currently being
tion andverification ofbooks andrecords by accountants who used by governments to supply pharmaceuticals to their
specialize in financial audit procedures. Internal audits are health services—
conducted by auditors from within the government (for the
public sector) or the organization managing the health sys- Central stores system: Conventional CmS approach, in
tem (for the nonpublic sector). External audits are conducted which pharmaceuticals are procured and distributed by a
by auditors from outside the managing organization and are centralized government unit.
generally considered less potentially biased and therefore Autonomous supply agency system: Bulk procurement,
more credible, even if the process and findings are the same. storage, and distribution managed by an autonomous or
The annual external or statutory audit, conducted by a semi-autonomous supply agency, not directly managed
registered or licensed auditor, should include tests to ensure by the government (although government is often part of
that the organization’s assets are safeguarded and accounted the agency’s governing board).
for, that the systems of internal controls and procedures are Direct delivery system: A “non-CmS” approach, in which
adequate to account for all the organization’s income and tenders establish prices and suppliers for each essential
expenditures, and that the organization is complying with medicine, which is delivered directly by suppliers to indi-
its constitution, rules and regulations, and management. vidual districts and major facilities.
 18 / Managing procurement 18.17

Figure 18-3 Comparison of two procurement indicator results for six countries
Percentage of sampled tracer medicines that failed quality testing
50
44.1 Public
Private
40
NGO/Mission facilities
31.6
29.4
30

20 18.2 18.2 19.6

17.8
15 15.4 14.1 13
11.4
10
6 6
0 0 0 0
0
Brazil (Minas Gerais) Cambodia El Salvador Ghana India (Rajasthan) Tanzania

Percentage of average international price paid for set of indicator medicines

200
182

150

114
100 96

65
50
37 33

0
Brazil (Minas Gerais) Cambodia El Salvador Ghana India (Rajasthan) Tanzania

Sources: CPM 2003a, 2003b, 2003c, 2003d, 2003e, 2003f.

Primary distributor system (also known as prime vendor purchasing transactions in pooled procurement programs.
system): contract for pharmaceutical pricing is negotiated In both, a single agency manages tenders and contract
with suppliers, and a separate contract is negotiated with negotiations on behalf of the group. Then, in a centralized
one or more primary distributors, who warehouse and purchasing model the central office also manages the pur-
distribute pharmaceuticals to districts and major health chasing transactions on behalf of group members, while in
facilities. a decentralized purchasing model the group members pur-
Primarily private supply: Public-sector patients obtain chase individually from the suppliers who hold the contracts
pharmaceutical services from private pharmacies. that were centrally negotiated. (See Country Studies 18-2
Government may or may not reimburse the cost of those and 18-3 for examples of group purchasing systems.)
services, and may also set maximum reimbursable prices Centralized management of both the purchasing and con-
including a dispensing fee, minus any co-payments. tracting functions offers some potential advantages—
Reimbursement may go directly to the pharmacy-based
on claims submitted, or to the patient (meaning that the • Economies of scale reduce the cost of managing pro-
patient pays the pharmacy and submits a reimbursement curement offices.
claim). • Sustaining an effective program is easier with only one
procurement unit to staff and manage.
The important point to a public health system in adapt- • A single procurement list for a large group of facili-
ing these alternative supply chain models is to retain the ties increases volume, promotes reduced prices, and
advantages of pooled procurement to the extent feasible. improves market presence, which leads to better sup-
Generally, two common variations exist on managing the ply security and quality.
18.18 PR O C u REm Ent

• Better-managed systems of finance and payment may many operations-level procurement managers have not
encourage suppliers to compete for contracts and to had formal management training and may fail to appreci-
perform well. ate the importance of setting such realistic and quantifiable
procurement objectives as—
A centralized purchasing system also has potential draw-
backs— • Acquiring quality supplies at the best possible price
• Ensuring prompt and dependable delivery
• If it does not function well, all group members suffer: • Following procedures that are transparent and not
although the prices may be theoretically better than influenced by special interests
with individual members doing the purchasing, the • maintaining a procurement pattern that produces an
system may not be as responsive and may not provide even workload and constant supply to clients
the medicines needed in time to provide continuous • Achieving efficiency through use of appropriate sys-
care to patients. tems and procedures
• Without significant input from the participating facili- • Limiting total procurement operating costs
ties, centralized purchasing services will likely not • Ensuring that revenue is adequate to support the office,
meet users’ needs very well. and that finances are managed effectively
• If the central agency has substantial corruption, the • Filling key positions with well-trained and motivated
program will never function effectively. staff
• maintaining effective working relationships with
Pharmaceutical purchasing and distribution systems senior management and with clients
have traditionally been heavily centralized in many devel-
oping countries, with little management input from lower Senior management is responsible for assuring that these
levels. many of these countries are now decentralizing considerations are properly addressed and particularly for
procurement to the regional, state, or even local facility enforcing transparency and equity in the purchasing pro-
level, either by choice or because the central system has cess.
collapsed.
However, decentralized procurement management has Responsibilities in the procurement process
proved challenging in many countries. Problems encoun-
tered include significantly higher prices (if the decentral- Effective procurement is a collaborative process between
ized managers select their own suppliers), potential product the procurement office, which manages many of the steps,
quality issues, irrational purchasing patterns based on the and technical and policy committees, which should usually
whims of prescribers or local procurement offices, and make the decisions about which medicines to buy, in what
overall erratic supply because of local inefficiencies, lack of quantities, and from which suppliers. In a complex setting
access to funds, or poor management. such as a procurement program at the national level, the fol-
lowing division of responsibilities may be appropriate.
Supervision by senior management
Procurement office. The procurement office, which may be
Without political commitment to efficiency and active part of the government or independent, collates informa-
supervision by senior management, the procurement sys- tion on medicine needs, develops a proposed procure-
tem will not function efficiently, regardless of its organiza- ment list based on clients’ requirements, manages the
tion. The lack of modern financial management, accounting tendering process, manages and arranges supply con-
systems, and supervisory responsibility has doomed many tracts unless there is a separate tender board, and moni-
pharmaceutical systems to chronic failure. tors performance of suppliers and of clients.
to manage the pharmaceutical supply chain, senior man- Staff of the procurement office should not have the
agers should demand and use regular reports from procure- sole deciding voice in determining which products are
ment and distribution agencies and from health facilities purchased and which suppliers receive contracts; these
on expenditures, purchases, stock levels, order status, lead decisions should be made by committees that include
times, and budget status. If a system lacks the capacity to representatives from other administrative sections or
produce these reports in a timely manner, introduction stakeholders, including client facilities. This separation
of the tools to provide them should be top priority. Senior of powers helps ensure broad ownership of the system
managers should also maintain regular communications and avoids conflicts of interest. If the procurement office
with facilities and staff; systems do not work very well if the is independently operated, it is important that its opera-
senior managers have never visited any facilities outside the tions be supervised by a board of directors that includes
capital. senior health-policy makers.
 18 / Managing procurement 18.19

Tender board. In many countries, tendering and contract In some countries, separate subcommittees develop
negotiation are done according to law by a govern- product specifications and investigate suppliers’ qualifi-
ment tender board, which either reports to the finance cation for participation in tenders.
ministry or is independent of any ministry. In such
situations, the procurement office prepares the list of Procurement office staffing and management systems
requirements, and the tender board may monitor the
tender process. The prime task of the tender board is The structure of the procurement office depends on the
to make the award decision; in some cases, this will scope of the program, the availability of funds, and whether
be an absolute decision, while in others, the tender the office is managed as a government entity or as an inde-
board will make recommendations to health officials. pendent agency.
Whichever system is followed, it is essential that the
health system provide technical input into the contract Staffing requirements. In general, the procurement office
award decision. needs a director, an assistant director, and experienced
Medicine selection committee. Often the same as the formu- technical staff members, with at least one pharmacist or
lary committee or pharmacy and therapeutics commit- physician to provide sound technical input for the devel-
tee, the medicine selection committee should comprise opment and refinement of procurement lists.
knowledgeable practitioners and other health profes- Accounting and finance officers are needed to manage
sionals who evaluate competing drug products in various the accounts and in some systems manage payment to
therapeutic categories and select products that are most suppliers. Automated offices need data processors and
essential to the health system. A senior physician fre- at least one information technology professional. Also
quently chairs the committee, and a pharmacist generally needed are one or more clerical managers, one or more
serves as organizing secretary. The committee reviews secretaries or clerks, a receptionist or telephone opera-
requests for additions to the procurement list, com- tor, maintenance staff, and, in some systems, a driver and
pares the cost effectiveness of medicines on the list, and security staff.
recommends which medicines to purchase, and when Staff in key procurement and distribution positions
necessary, which medicines to delete. The committee also must be well trained and highly motivated, with the
determines which therapeutic categories, if any, are suit- capability to manage the procurement process effectively.
able for open tender by therapeutic class. The committee unfortunately, in many countries, people are transferred
needs access to current, unbiased drug information and just as they become competent in a position, and a new
members who can synthesize such information to make cycle of training and time lag between appointment and
appropriate selection decisions. competence must begin again.
Procurement/tender committee. Whether or not a govern- Salaries for procurement staff. When procurement office
ment tender board is in charge of tendering, the health salaries are too low to support an individual or a family,
system should establish a procurement committee to or much lower than for equivalent work in the private
make final decisions or to make the recommendations sector, corrupt practices and neglect of duties are much
for such decisions to the tender board on medicine more likely to occur. These kinds of problems increase
selection, procurement quantity, and supplier selec- funding requirements to replace the resulting theft and
tion, and approve the exact specifications for product waste. Paying reasonable salaries in the first place and
description, packaging and labeling, and quality assur- implementing tough controls is more cost-effective.
ance standards. The committee should base those deci- In some countries, restructuring the procurement
sions on recommendations from technical committees office as an independent parastatal or privatized unit may
and subcommittees. It reviews information on suppliers be the only way to pay adequate salaries to staff.
and determines which should participate in tenders, if Communications and market information. to succeed in the
a restricted tender is used, and which suppliers should international market, procurement programs need two
receive contracts, unless such decisions are made by sorts of critical information: comparative price and avail-
a separate tender board. The procurement committee ability data on products in the national and international
should include senior officials from the highest level of pharmaceutical market and information about suppliers’
government served by the procurement system as well capacity, reliability, and quality. Health system procure-
as officials from user facilities. For example, a federal ment agencies without access to price information or to
government program that serves teaching hospitals the performance record of international suppliers oper-
and regional health systems might include two or three ate in a vacuum and are essentially at the mercy of the
representatives of the ministry of health, two or three marketplace.
regional representatives, and one or two teaching hospi- Access to information depends on communications
tal representatives. capacity. An Internet and e-mail connection and
18.20 PR O C u REm Ent

We communicate with
suppliers and consult
with everyone involved in DiSTRiBuTion
pharmaceutical management.

Supply
Manufacturers’ managers
inspections Registration representatives Financial
Quality managers
control

Drug and Special

therapeutics programs
committee user representatives

GooD CoMMuniCATion iS eSSenTiAL To The PRoCuReMenT PRoCeSS

external telephone line are essential in modern pro- the most important elements in procurement. Lack of a
curement, even if all procurement is done through functioning mIS or the inability to use it appropriately is
local suppliers. For international procurement, direct a primary cause of program failure.
access to an overseas line is mandatory. Countries have The mIS must be used to track all orders placed, the
sources of comparative price information including number and status of shipments and receipts, compliance
the International Drug Price Indicator Guide (mSH, with contract pricing, lead time of each order, payments
published annually), the annual source and price guide made by the office or by group members, performance
for HIV/AIDS medicines and commodities (WHO/ bond status, and the results of any investigations related
unICEF/unAIDS/mSF 2005), the Global Fund’s price to product quality.
and quality reporting tool (http://www.theglobalfund. The information system should also track the perfor-
org/en/procurement/pqr/), and other national and mance of health system units, number of orders placed,
multicountry resources that WHO makes available on payments made, quantities actually purchased compared
its website (http://www.who.int/medicines/areas/access/ with estimates, purchases from all contract suppliers, and
ecofin/en/index.html) and through its Procurement & if possible, pharmaceutical purchases from noncontract
Supply management toolbox (http://www.psmtoolbox. suppliers. In all but the smallest procurement systems,
org). Chapter 21 discusses options for obtaining and the mIS should be computerized.
evaluating information about pharmaceutical suppli- Computerized procurement information systems
ers. A central repository of international information depend on appropriate software (Chapter 50). Key staff
on worldwide supplier performance and tender pricing must be familiar with the software, and competent data
would be useful but has not yet proved feasible. entry personnel must be available.
Tracking performance of the procurement system. A reli- Procurement manuals and technical assistance. Achieving
able management information system (mIS) is one of and sustaining an efficiently functioning procurement
 18 / Managing procurement 18.21

system are complex and demanding jobs. using written have sufficient budget capability to purchase enough medi-
policies and procedures that spell out how the procure- cines to cover the needs of all patients, without supplement-
ment process should be managed and how the procure- ing the budget with some sort of cost recovery or donor
ment system should operate is critical. A comprehensive support.
procedures manual can be time-consuming to develop, An epic occurrence in international health and develop-
but worthwhile if actively used to orient and manage ment was the advent in the 2000s of global financing mecha-
staff. nisms such as the Global Fund, PEPFAR, and unItAID,
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis and discussed in Chapter 14. These initiatives provide large-scale
malaria publishes policy guidelines for procurement financing for countries to procure medicines and essential
through its program (Global Fund 2009). For purchasing commodities, and in some cases, support global procure-
through World Bank–financed loans, the World Bank’s ment mechanisms that make a limited range of commodi-
Standard Bidding Documents for Procurement of Health ties directly available to countries, such as the SCmS and
Sector Goods (World Bank 2004b) and Procurement of Global Fund voluntary pooled procurement programs
Health Sector Goods Technical Note (World Bank 2000) described earlier. Despite the increasing scope of these ini-
are essential references. A recently developed procure- tiatives, financing issues still require the attention of health
ment system assessment tool, funded by the World Bank, systems managers.
includes transparency indicators in its evaluation (see
Country Study 36-3). Sources of funds for pharmaceutical procurement
When starting a new procurement system or revamp-
ing a poorly functioning system, outside technical Primary sources of funds for pharmaceuticals include gov-
assistance may help local managers in design and ernment financing, user fees, health insurance, community
implementation. A number of organizations offer cofinancing, and donor financing. Chapter 11 describes
materials and technical support to help procure phar- these options in terms of their efficiency, equity, feasibility,
maceuticals and commodities; for example, WHO and sustainability.
has procurement assistance programs specifically for The most important considerations for procurement are
medicines and supplies related to HIV/AIDS, malaria, regular access to and availability of funds and adequate
and tuberculosis (AIDS medicines and Diagnostics access to foreign exchange. Government and donor funds
Service, Roll Back malaria’s Commodity Services, are sometimes released irregularly throughout the finan-
and Global tB Drug Facility). WHO also provides cial year, and regulations often specify that funds must be
other types of technical assistance on procurement spent in the year in which they are allocated or be returned
issues in addition to its supplier prequalification pro- to the treasury. together, these factors may make it difficult
gram. The u.S. Agency for International Development to operate proper procurement systems and to obtain the
funds several global and local programs that provide best prices.
assistance to country-level pharmaceutical procure- Strategies such as decentralized financial management
ment programs. Other bilateral agencies, such as the and various types of revolving drug funds have been used to
u.K. Department for International Development, the separate pharmaceutical procurement from the annual trea-
Danish International Development Agency, and oth- sury cycle. This separation also often requires some form of
ers, fund support to focus countries and regions, and cost recovery, which the decentralized mechanism manages.
major development banks and united nations agencies uncoupling the procurement cycle from the treasury cycle
such as unICEF and the united nations Development has substantial management advantages. Inventory
Programme provide procurement support in some management improves when medicines can be ordered
countries (see the Glossary and References and Further when needed rather than at an arbitrary point in the govern-
Readings sections for more information). ment fiscal year. When suppliers know that orders will be
placed promptly after tendering and that payment will be
made according to contract terms, prices will be much more
18.7 Financial sustainability competitive.
Pharmaceutical financing issues that affect the procure-
Procurement programs cannot function effectively when ment system are discussed in Chapters 9–14. These issues
funds are chronically inadequate. traditionally, many coun- include the actual revenue potential of user-fee programs,
tries have relied totally on the public budget to support equity aspects of user fees, management and accountability
pharmaceutical procurement, with medicines provided free requirements for successful user-fee programs, the role of
to both inpatients and outpatients. In some countries, phar- health insurance and other social financing mechanisms,
maceutical purchases have consumed 20 to 40 percent of the the role of donor financing, and related issues. For donor
total public health budget. The reality is that few countries financing, grants and loans should be clearly distinguished:
18.22 PR O C u REm Ent

loans may be necessary to finance the start-up capital for a the procurement office is support through the government
revolving drug fund or for a major emergency, but are an budget.
undesirable mechanism for financing the recurrent costs of For pooled procurement programs that have a centralized
supplying medicines. procurement office that is not a formal government office,
options may include—
Access to foreign currency exchange
• A periodic percentage payment to the office from
Pharmaceutical procurement almost always requires the group members, based on the invoice value of ship-
health system’s largest outlay of foreign currency exchange. ments
Shortage of foreign exchange can constrain international • A percentage payment from group members at the
procurement and be a country’s rationale for seeking donor beginning of the procurement cycle, based on the pro-
support for pharmaceutical purchases. In situations where jected value of the total procurement, or at the end of
foreign exchange is constrained, procurement and phar- the cycle, based on the actual value of total shipments
maceutical management systems should be as efficient • Payment from group members in the form of a flat
as possible, so that they make the best use of local supply annual fee, based on total expenses divided by the total
sources of products meeting established quality standards number of areas and independent institutions served
and obtain the best possible prices in international procure-
ment. Sound documentation of actual needs and of eco- The proper choice depends on the situation. The risk in
nomical use of funds may help justify increases in foreign tying a procurement office’s reimbursement to the value of
currency exchange allocation from the ministry of finance purchases by user facilities is the possible incentive for the
or central bank. For example, in the Organisation of Eastern procurement office to increase, rather than decrease, prices
Caribbean States’ Pharmaceutical Procurement Service, the and total purchases. Therefore, if this approach is used,
Eastern Caribbean Central Bank handles the program’s cur- checks and balances must be put in place, such as using
rency exchange from Eastern Caribbean dollars and pays budget price volume instead of actual buy price or requiring
suppliers in u.S. dollars at no charge to participating coun- that user representatives make all major procurement
tries (Burnett 2003). decisions. n

Reliable payment mechanism

Glossary
As discussed earlier, sustained low pharmaceutical prices
are possible only when a procurement program can guar- ABC value analysis: method by which medicines are divided,
antee prompt payment in full according to contract terms. according to their annual usage (unit cost times annual con-
One example of sustainable financing is the revolving drug sumption), into Class A items (the 10 to 20 percent of items that
fund described in Country Study 18-2. However, revolv- account for 75 to 80 percent of the funds spent), Class B items
ing drug funds work only if the political will and financial (with intermediate usage rates), and Class C items (the vast
majority of items with low individual usage, the total of which
capacity exist to replenish deposits in the fund each time
accounts for 5 to 10 percent of the funds spent). ABC analysis can
purchases are made. Otherwise, the fund will soon vanish. be used to give priority to Class A items in procurement, inven-
Examples are numerous: one cautionary tale comes from tory control, and port clearing.
Central America, where a European donor provided capital Active pharmaceutical ingredient (API): That portion of a drug
for revolving funds in several countries. Within a few years, product that has therapeutic properties.
all but one of the funds were totally decapitalized. That one AIDS Medicines and Diagnostics Service (AMDS): A WHO-
country continued with the program for an additional year, sponsored network to provide resources and technical assistance
but it experienced periodic problems with replenishing the to countries buying pharmaceuticals and diagnostics for HIV/
account after purchases were made, resulting in delays in AIDS programs (http://www.who.int/hiv/amds/en).
procurement and stockouts in health facilities; eventually Annual purchasing: A periodic inventory control system in which
the system ended. pharmaceutical requirements are determined and orders are
placed once a year.
Back order: An order for a product that is currently out of stock.
Financial support for the procurement office Back orders are filled when a new supply of the product becomes
available.
Procurement services may be part of the warehouse and dis- Basic unit: The smallest unit in which a medicine can be conve-
tribution operation or be set up as a separate procurement niently dispensed or administered. It is used in quantification,
office. In either case, salaries and operational costs of the reorder formulas, and comparison of prices of different-sized
procurement function must be covered. For typical public bottles or vials. typical basic units are tablet or capsule, mL (for
procurement systems, the only existing funding source for liquids), and g (for ointments and creams).
 18 / Managing procurement 18.23

ass Ess MENT Gu IDE

Procurement performance indicators • Are purchases limited to items on the formulary or

essential medicines list?
• Percentage by value of ministry of health (mOH)
• What constraints limit successful procurement in
medicines purchased through a central procurement
the public-sector pharmaceutical supply system?
system
• Percentage of average international price paid for Procurement system responsibilities
last regular procurement (indicator medicines)
• Which agency or office is responsible for procure-
• Percentage by value of mOH pharmaceutical pur- ment of medicines and, if different, vaccines, contra-
chases that are on the essential medicines list or ceptives, diagnostics, and medical supplies?
national medicines formulary
• How are procurement responsibilities divided for
• Percentage by value of mOH medicines purchased medicine selection, needs estimation, tender man-
through competitive tender
agement, and contract awards?
• Percentage by value of medicines purchased from
local manufacturers • Are written procedures for tenders and contract
awards in place and regularly followed? Is the tender
• Average lead time for a sample of orders (calculated process transparent?
separately for all suppliers, local manufacturers, for-
eign suppliers) • What type of procurement management informa-
tion system is used, and what kinds of reports are
• Average time for payment for a sample of orders produced?
(calculated separately for all suppliers, local manu-
facturers, foreign suppliers) • How does the purchasing office obtain information
on comparative prices and new supplier perfor-
• Percentage of pharmaceuticals (batches) subjected mance?
to quality-control testing compared with target per-
centage to be tested • What kinds of computers and computer applications
are used to manage procurement?
• Percentage of pharmaceuticals (batches) that failed
quality-control testing • Is information available to carry out ABC, VEn, or
total variable cost analyses?
Procurement system procedures • What procedures are used for monitoring supplier
performance and enforcing procurement contracts?
• What type of system is used to supply medicines to
public facilities (CmS, autonomous agency, direct Procurement finance
delivery, primary distributor, private pharmacies)?
• What are the usual payment terms, payment lead
• What type(s) of purchasing models are used at each times, and current debts owed to local and inter-
level of the supply system (annual, scheduled, or national suppliers?
perpetual)?
• Does a problem exist with currency-exchange status
• How are order and tender quantities determined at in the public sector? If so, what impact does this situ-
each level of the system?
ation have on pharmaceutical procurement?
• How are suppliers selected for tender or negotia-
tion—does a formal qualification process exist? • Are funds available as needed or is a fixed schedule
used for the release of funds (and what approvals are
• Is procurement done using generic names, brand needed)?
names, or a mix?
• Do cost recovery or drug revolving funds contribute
• Are therapeutic equivalent medicines purchased significantly to procurement financing?
through therapeutic subcategory tendering?
• to what degree is procurement financed by donors
• How are lead times factored into ordering formulas or by loans from development banks?
and safety stock requirements?

Batch: The quantity of a pharmaceutical produced in one produc- tities in order to obtain lower unit prices. Generally done in a
tion run. bid system in which all medicines are identified by their generic
Bid bond: A form of financial guarantee provided when a bid is (Inn) name.
submitted. The bond is forfeited if the successful bidder with- Call for offers: A publicized invitation to bid. used in tender or bid
draws the offer or refuses to agree to the announced contract purchasing. Includes product specifications, required delivery
requirements. date, closing date for submitting offers, and other requirements
Bulk purchasing: Procurement of pharmaceuticals in large quan- of participation.
18.24 PR O C u REm Ent

Certificate of manufacture: A document accompanying a com- Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria: An inter-
mercial invoice that is presented to the buyer’s bank—usually one national, independent public-private partnership designed to
of the requirements of a letter of credit—certifying that the prod- attract and manage significant funding to finance the fight against
ucts have been manufactured, are ready for shipment, and are in AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria (http://www.theglobalfund.org).
safekeeping. GMPs (good manufacturing practices): Performance standards
CIF (cost, insurance, freight): When a seller quotes CIF, the costs for pharmaceutical manufacturers established by WHO and
of goods, marine insurance, and transportation to the named many national governments; they include criteria for person-
destination point are included. nel, facilities, equipment, materials, manufacturing operations,
Competitive negotiation: A procurement method by which the labeling, packaging, quality control, and, in most cases, stability
buyer approaches a small number of selected potential sellers and testing.
bargains with them directly to achieve specific price or service GPP (good procurement practice): The internationally recog-
arrangements (used primarily in the private sector). nized concept of using best-practice principles in procurement,
Compound: to mix together the ingredients of a prescription or marked by openness and transparency.
pharmaceutical formula. Generally refers to a manual process Group purchasing: Purchasing done by one procurement office
performed for individual orders by a dispenser or pharmacist. on behalf of a group of facilities, health systems, or countries.
Consumption: The rate at which items are issued to clients or Group members agree to purchase certain medicines exclusively
patients. This is also called demand (which is, in strict terms, the through the group.
rate of requests or orders). Consumption is usually measured in Hidden costs: Costs in addition to the contract price that are not
terms of units consumed within a specific period. paid to the supplier but are real costs to the supply system. These
Consumption-based estimate: Prediction of future pharmaceuti- include costs associated with poor quality, late deliveries, defaults
cal requirements on the basis of historical information on phar- on deliveries, short packing, and other factors.
maceutical consumption. Identity: Presence of the correct active ingredient in a drug prod-
Direct procurement: The simplest but usually most expensive uct.
method of procurement, in which an item is purchased from a Immediate container (package): The individual jar, bottle, box,
single supplier at its quoted price. blister pack, or other container in which a single group of items
Disintegration: The breaking up of a tablet or capsule into gran- is packed.
ules or aggregates in an aqueous fluid. International procurement services: Organizations such as
Dissolution: The breaking down of fine particles into molecules or unICEF, IDA Foundation, SCmS, and other groups that supply
ions homogeneously dispersed in an aqueous fluid. medicines on a nonprofit basis.
Estimated-quantity contract: A supply contract for a fixed period Inventory: The sum of all items held in stock.
that stipulates an estimated total quantity, with the actual total Inventory-holding cost: Also known as carrying cost. The cost of
quantity determined by orders placed as needed at the contract holding one unit of an item in stock for a year. It may be expressed
price during the contract period. as a monetary amount or a percentage of purchase cost. This
Excipient: An inert substance used to give a pharmaceutical prepa- includes capital costs, costs associated with storage space, utili-
ration a suitable form or consistency. ties, handling costs, losses due to waste and theft, and storehouse
Expiry date: The date appearing on a drug product and established administrative costs. These costs may be 20 to 40 percent of the
by the manufacturer beyond which the manufacturer will not purchase price for a year.
guarantee the potency, purity, uniformity, or bioavailability of the Inventory value: The sum of the number of units of each item on
product. hand or in storage in the system multiplied by the current unit
External packaging: The case, crate, carton, or other container in price of each item.
which individual packages are placed. IQC (Indefinite quantity contract): A contract that provides for
FAS (free alongside ship): used to indicate only the cost of trans- an indefinite quantity, within stated limits, of specific supplies or
porting the goods to a ship are included by the seller. Carriage services to be furnished during a fixed period with deliveries to
and freight are specifically excluded. be scheduled by placing orders with the contractor.
Financial guarantees: Deposits in the form of earnest money, bid Issue unit: The quantity or size of each item counted in the stock
bonds, performance bonds, or retention money required of sup- records. For example, in some supply systems, the unit for tetra-
pliers to guarantee their participation once they have submitted cycline capsules might be one bottle of 100 capsules, and in oth-
bids or to ensure the complete fulfillment of contractual obliga- ers it might be one capsule. This is not necessarily the same as the
tions by the supplier that wins the bid. basic unit or comparison unit, although they may be the same
FOB (free on board): used to indicate only the cost of transport- (see Chapter 50 for a discussion of units).
ing the goods to and on board a ship are included by the seller. Item: A unique product for inventory purposes. In pharmaceutical
Carriage and freight are specifically excluded. supply, an important issue is whether generic equivalent items
Freight: The fee charged for carrying goods. The term is also are treated as the same item or whether different brands of the
applied to the items to be carried although the correct term for same generic product are treated as different items. The item is
them is cargo. sometimes called a stock-keeping unit (SKu), which is not the
GDF (Global Drug Facility): An organization that currently both same as an issue unit.
supplies and acts as a procurement agent for anti-tuberculosis Lead time: The time interval needed to complete the procurement
drugs for developing countries (http://www.stoptb.org/GDF/ cycle. It begins at the time the need for new stock is recognized
default.asp). and ends when that stock is received and available for issue.
 18 / Managing procurement 18.25

Lead-time analysis: A systematic study of the components of annual direct and indirect costs of the purchasing department by
lead time, aimed at discovering areas in which lead time can be the number of orders placed in the year.
reduced. Purity: The extent to which medicines are free from potentially
Line item: A product listed on an order or invoice. Each separate harmful contaminants, significant quantities of other medicines,
product on the document is one line item, no matter what quan- bacteria, or other microorganisms.
tity of the product is listed. Quality assurance: The management activities required to ensure
Make or buy: A management decision that involves the analysis of that the medicine that reaches the patient is safe, effective, and
the cost and potential benefits of manufacturing a product rather acceptable to the patient.
than buying it on the open market. Quality control: The testing of medicine samples against specific
Monopsony: A monopsony is a market with only one buyer. The standards of quality.
buyer’s-side analogy is a monopoly, in which there is only one Quantification: Estimation of the quantities of specific medicines
seller in a market. needed. Financial requirements for purchasing the quantities are
Open tender: The formal procedure by which quotations for the also calculated.
supply of pharmaceuticals under their generic names are invited Restricted tender: Procurement procedure in which participation
from any local or international manufacturer or representative, in bidding is limited to suppliers that meet certain prerequisites
subject to the terms and conditions specified in the tender invita- or have previously registered as suppliers.
tion. Retention money: See Performance bond.
Opportunity cost of inventory: The cost of monies tied up in Roll Back Malaria Partnership’s Commodity Services: A unit
inventory. If average inventories increase, then capital invested to support the procurement and supply management efforts for
in inventory increases proportionally. Since these funds invested nets, insecticides, medicines, and diagnostics. The commodity
in inventory could be used for other expenditures, they should be service does not procure products itself, but it publishes market
valued at current bank interest rates. data, distributes forecast information, and fosters collaboration
Order quantity: The amount of stock to be ordered (or that has to address bottlenecks. (http://www.rollbackmalaria.org/psm/
already been ordered) via requisition or purchase order from a index.html)
supplier or supply point. Scheduled purchasing: Procurement model in which stock levels
Order status: The position of an order with respect to the specific are reviewed periodically at set times during the year and orders
tasks that must be performed for the order to be delivered to the are placed as necessary.
buyer. Secondary manufacture: The processing of medicinal substances,
Payment terms: The conditions arranged between a buyer and a usually together with excipients, to produce a pharmaceutical
seller regarding the method of reimbursement. Letters of credit dose form.
and commercial or deferred terms are the most common. Shelf life: The length of time a material may be stored without
Performance bond: A form of financial guarantee that the supplier affecting its usability, safety, purity, or potency.
deposits when accepting the contract. This amount is forfeited if Shortage cost: If emergency supplies are purchased to address
the supplier defaults on the contract. a stockout, any increment in purchase price is a shortage cost.
Perpetual purchasing: A procurement model in which stock This cost is more difficult to quantify than holding cost but may
levels are reviewed continually, and orders are placed when- still be significant. Loss of customers, decreased goodwill, and
ever stock levels fall below designated or calculated reorder decreased sales are also real shortage costs if pharmaceuticals
points. sales are involved.
Pooled procurement: Another name for group purchasing. Specifications: A precise description of an item to be procured,
Population-based estimate: Prediction of future pharmaceuti- including any special requirements.
cal requirements based on the demographic composition of the Stock: The items stored in a warehouse or facility (or health sys-
population, disease patterns, and norms for treatment. tem). There are several types of stock:
Port clearing: The process of locating items in port, obtaining the Pipeline stock: Stock that is in transit at various stages of the pur-
proper import documentation, paying the necessary fees, and chasing and distribution cycles.
inspecting the pharmaceuticals for damage during transit. Quarantine stock: Stock that has been physically received in the
Potency: The extent to which a medicine contains the specified storage facility but is held separately and not available for issue.
amount of the active ingredient. There may be a need to confirm product quality or compliance
Procurement: The process of acquiring supplies, including those with the contract, or the transfer to working stock might be
obtained by purchase, donation, and manufacture. delayed pending completion of necessary documents.
Procurement period: The period of time between an order to a Safety stock: The buffer or minimum stock that is kept on hand
supplier and the next scheduled order. to protect against stockouts. If there is no safety stock, stock-
Product file: A card or ledger file that records the technical specifi- outs will occur when deliveries are delayed or when there is an
cations and performance of suppliers for each product. unexpected increase in demand. In theory, the safety stock is
Purchasing costs: All costs involved in placing and monitoring separate from the working stock, but in practice there is no sep-
an order, including communication costs, the cost of preparing aration of the two, and safety stock sometimes must be issued.
an order or tender and of subsequent negotiations, the staff time Seasonal stock: Stock that is acquired with the expectation that it
involved in routine checking of inventory levels, costs of receiv- will be needed to satisfy seasonal demand—for example, cough
ing goods, any related special fees, and administrative costs. In and cold medications in the winter. This stock is also part of the
practice, the cost of each order is estimated by dividing the total working stock once it is in the warehouse.
18.26 PR O C u REm Ent

Vertical program stock: Stock that is not available on open Program. Arlington, Va.: management Sciences for Health. <http://
request but is held for sole use by a vertical program, such as www.msh.org/seam/reports/Rajasthan-SEAmAssessment-2001.
family planning or the Expanded Programme on Immuniza- pdf>
tion (EPI). This stock may also be separated into working stock ————. 2003f. Access to Essential Medicines: Tanzania, 2001. Prepared
for the Strategies for Enhancing Access to medicines Program.
and safety stock.
Arlington, Va.: management Sciences for Health. <http://www.msh.
Working stock: Stock that is on hand in the warehouse or store- org/seam/reports/access_to_medicines_tanzania.pdf>
room and is shipped to requesting operating units. Working DeRoeck, D., S. A. Bawazir, P. Carrasco, m. Kaddar, A. Brooks, J.
stock fluctuates as orders are filled and new stock arrives. Fitzsimmons, and J. Andrus. 2006. International Journal of Health
Other stock: Stock that is not usually issued but may be needed Planning and Management 21:23–43.
for purposes such as shipping or repackaging. may include Global Fund (Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria).
items such as shipping tape, boxes, and labels. 2010. Information Note: Procurement Support Services Voluntary
Supplier: Any individual or company that agrees to provide medi- Pooled Procurement and Supply Chain Management Assistance.
cations, regardless of whether that party is the manufacturer. Geneva: Global Fund.
Supplier file: A record kept for each supplier indicating when ————.2009. Guide to the Global Fund’s Policies on Procurement and
Supply Management. Geneva: Global Fund. <http://www.theglobal
orders were placed, when they were received, what kind of service
fund.org/en/procurement>
the supplier provided, and the quality of the product provided. Holmes, C. B., W. Coggin, D. Jamieson, H. mihm, R. Granich, P. Savio,
Supplier reliability: The past performance of a supplier in terms of m. Hope, et al. 2010. use of Generic Antiretroviral Agents and Cost
medicine and packaging quality, timeliness of delivery, and level Savings in PEPFAR treatment Programs. Journal of the American
of service provided. Medical Association 304(3):313–20.
Supply Chain Management System (SCMS): A u.S. government HAI/WHO (Health Action International /World Health
initiative to procure and distribute HIV/AIDS-related phar- Organization). no date. “medicine Prices, Availability, Affordability
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