Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
access to tier 1 organisations so as to understand the potential for a
future opportunity at the right time, when product purchase decisions
are being taken or when it might be best to make contact with the tier
1 integrator at a later date. This kind of visibility of tier 1 tenderers for
tier 2 innovators can improve the tier 1 fi rm's chances of success and
the client's aims for achieving improved value.
Another item to highlight in Figure 8.1 is the call-out fl ags, which are
labelled 'MS'. These appear next to Projects 2 and 4. The fl ags capture
the fact that market sounding exercises were completed during the
development of the procurement plan, and they also show that bidder
tracking is available to the procurement team during the procurement
process. Figure 8.1 is a sample detail taken from a model supply chain
map of a programme, showing only one cluster. Figure 8.2 is an illustra-
tion of a complete tier 1 supply chain map for a major programme. This
is a deliberately illegible screenshot of the whole of the Crossrail tier 1
map. The block circled in the lower half of the map in Figure 8.2 indi-
cates where the cluster detail in Figure 8.1 might fi t into the overall
scheme of the programme.
The document is actually printed to an A0 poster and displayed at
various points in the programme offi ce. For all the executive team and
senior programme managers at both the ODA, where this type of tier 1
supply chain map was fi rst developed, and also at Crossrail, the poster
was a regular feature in offi ces and on walls in the programme's offi ce
buildings. It served as a simple yet effective overview of procurement
progress, areas of overlap between tier 1 contractors and a high-level
view of areas of potential risk and opportunity that could be further
explored as they emerged on the map. It was also a means of commu-
nicating the scale and signifi cance of the programme to all levels in the
procurement team. As can be seen from the screenshot in Figure 8.2,
the Crossrail programme involved large numbers of procurements and
the potential for much supply chain overlap. A silo project approach to
such a programme would make the strategic view of the whole very
diffi cult to manage.
This kind of mapping exercise shows the stage of each package in
relation to the procurement timetable, including which contracts have
been awarded, what is currently being procured and also what has yet
to be procured. It also highlights the contracting strategy for each pro-
curement, the approximate value and key personnel (including the pro-
curement leader and contract administrator). However, these are only
some of the details that the tier 1 map can capture. The basic model
