I’m Sure That’s Exactly What You Think, Sir

“There’s no way, in my considered opinion, that the public sector could have delivered what we have delivered in the time we have done it,” says Roger West, head of procurement outsourcing for DHL in the UK.

The quote is from an article in the Guardian regarding the outsourcing of procurement for the health care sector in the UK.

I’m sure that the head of the group that is GETTING PAID to do procurement is pretty gosh darn sure that NO ONE could have done what his team did in the time they did it.

I’m certain he thinks his team walks on water, can leap tall buildings in a single bound, and can bend iron rods without breaking so much as a sweat.

I’m a procurement professional. He’s a supplier.

By my very nature, I’m skeptical.

I have no doubt that the outsourcing arm of DHL, the package delivery company, has turned in cost savings. I’m certain they have added value.

And you’ve now let the head of that group publicly crow about their success?

Who is going to negotiate the contract with DHL outsourcing when it comes up? Are you going to let Mr. West handle that too? And then watch your savings evaporate?

Is it *really* a good idea to let a supplier deal with your suppliers on your behalf?

Oh, then there is this bit, “…sourcing products such as cotton wool balls direct from the manufacturer under the supply chain’s own Choice for Health brand.”

I see. They are saving you money by selling you their own products.

That’s not a questionable practice. (/sarcasm)

I know that government and the public sector have stumbled in recent years due to the downsloping economy. I know that laying off government employees and hiring outsource companies to do the work is all the rage right now.

But you see, I’ve been in this game for a long time. In the vernacular of my people….this ain’t my first rodeo.

Year one, outsourcers are god’s gift to procurement. The money they save! The deals they crank out! “I only have to manage one supplier and not all of our suppliers! Isn’t that great!?!?”

Yeah. Great. Year one. Maybe even year two.

Then the pendulum swings.

We start wondering why we are paying so much money to an outside supplier to do the things we can do ourselves internally.

Then a big project is soon underway to bring it all back in house.

I don’t know anything about DHL’s outsourcing team, they may be the best thing since the invention of the carbon paper-free purchase order form….

But, I remain, skeptical.***

***(apparently I’m not the only one. Toward the end of the story there is this bit, “Not everyone shares such enthusiasm for procurement outsourcing. Peter Howarth, managing director of the Society of Procurement Officers in Local Government…” See? The procurement professionals know better.)