Procurement & Supply Chain
Strategic Procurement and Contract Management
A five-day programme covering the full commercial cycle, from category strategy and specification through evaluation and negotiation to post-award contract management. It is built on the premise that most commercial value is determined by the specification, long before the sourcing event begins.
The business challenge
Why organisations commission this programme
Where procurement is run as a compliance process, the commercial outcome is largely fixed before procurement is involved: the specification has already been written to a preferred solution, the requirement is over-specified or vague, and the evaluation criteria follow rather than shape the market approach. Value then has to be recovered through price pressure alone.
Procurement is executed as a compliance process rather than a commercial discipline, so value is decided by the specification long before the sourcing event begins.
Who it is for
Participants
- Audience
- Procurement and category professionals, contract managers, and technical staff who write specifications
- Recommended cohort
- 12 to 20 participants
- Prerequisites
- Procurement, category or contract management responsibility, or accountability for writing specifications and requirements.
Outcomes
What participants will be able to do
- Develop a category strategy grounded in spend analysis and supply-market understanding.
- Write specifications and evaluation criteria that produce comparable, defensible bids.
- Prepare and conduct a negotiation from an evidenced position rather than a positional one.
- Manage contracts after award: obligations, performance, variations and disputes.
- Operate within procurement governance and produce an audit-ready documentation trail.
Learning objectives
- Build category strategy capability grounded in spend analysis and supply market understanding.
- Raise specification and evaluation quality so that bids are comparable and defensible.
- Develop negotiation practice based on evidenced positions rather than positional bargaining.
- Establish post-award contract management as a managed discipline rather than an administrative residue.
Indicative content
Programme structure
Content is confirmed during design and adapted to your context.
Day 1
Procurement in context, governance, ethics, spend analysis and category thinking; baseline assessment.
- Procurement in organisational context
- Governance, ethics and integrity
- Spend analysis
- Category thinking; baseline assessment
Day 2
Supply market analysis, sourcing strategy, specification quality and evaluation design.
- Supply market analysis
- Sourcing strategy and routes to market
- Specification quality
- Evaluation criteria design
Day 3
Tendering, evaluation discipline, moderation and award recommendation; negotiation preparation.
- Tender process and documentation
- Evaluation and moderation discipline
- Award recommendation and audit trail
- Negotiation preparation
Day 4
Negotiation practice using client-relevant scenarios, with structured observation and feedback.
- Negotiation practice
- Interests, positions and concession planning
- Negotiating from imbalance
- Closing without damaging the relationship
Day 5
Contract management, obligations and performance regimes, variations, disputes, exit, and assessment.
- Contract management and obligations
- Performance regimes
- Variations and disputes
- Exit and transition; assessment
Delivery and customisation
Configured around your organisation
- Typical duration
- Five days
- Formats
- Classroom or blended
- Language
- English by default. Other languages subject to facilitator availability and materials translation, agreed during design.
How it can be tailored
- Client procurement policy, thresholds, approval routes and templates.
- A real category and, with consent, anonymised bid material.
- The client sourcing platform and documentation standards.
- Public-sector or regulated procurement requirements where applicable.
- Separate streams for procurement professionals and for requirement owners.
Methods
- A real client category used as the running case across the week, with sponsor consent.
- Observed negotiation practice with structured feedback and a second attempt.
- Evaluation moderation simulation using anonymised bid material.
- Use of the client's own policy, thresholds, templates and sourcing platform throughout.
Materials, assessment and completion
Materials
- Participant workbook containing session content, frameworks, exercises and space for applied work.
- Client-contextualised case material and scenario packs used during the programme.
- Job aids, checklists and templates designed for use in the role after the programme.
- Assessment instruments and the marking criteria applied to them.
- Individual action plan template and a manager briefing note.
- Category strategy template, specification checklist, evaluation design guide and a negotiation preparation pack.
Reinforcement
- Individual action plans agreed during the programme and shared with line managers where the client permits.
- Manager briefing material setting out what was taught and what should be reinforced in the role.
- Toolkits and templates issued in editable form for continued use.
- Follow-up session at 30, 60 or 90 days where commissioned, reviewing action-plan progress and obstacles.
- Surgery sessions on live sourcing activity after the programme, where commissioned.
Completion
- Attendance at no less than 80 per cent of scheduled contact time, recorded daily and reconciled against the registered cohort.
- Participation in the assessed practical components of the programme.
- Submission of the assessed work product and the individual action plan.
- Achievement of the assessment threshold where the client sets one; where no threshold is set, results are reported without a pass or fail determination.
Participants who meet the completion criteria receive a Knull certificate of completion recording the programme, dates, duration, content covered and, where assessed, the assessment outcome. Knull does not award accredited or regulated qualifications and does not hold third-party training accreditation. Attendance and assessment records are retained under the engagement terms and provided to the client with the completion report.
| Component | Weighting | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Baseline and post assessment | 25% | Knowledge instrument administered before and after, reported as learning gain. |
| Category strategy or evaluation design | 35% | Analytical grounding, realism, defensibility and audit readiness, marked against a rubric. |
| Observed negotiation | 25% | Preparation quality, use of evidence, concession discipline and relationship handling. |
| Contract management plan | 15% | Completeness of obligations, performance measures, governance and escalation arrangements. |
Next step
Make it fit your organisation
Dates, cohort, format and fees are agreed in a proposal once scope is defined. To register interest in a closed cohort, use a corporate booking request — Knull reviews every request; it is not a confirmed reservation.
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Discuss this programme for your organisation
Tell us about your priorities, capability gaps or business challenges. We'll help identify an appropriate next step.