Vendor Performance Guarantees

I had to chuckle when I read today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article entitled "If you promise the moon, you might deliver green cheese."

The article starts off by saying: "There is no such thing as perfection -- and it would be nice if vendors admit it. No matter how good a job they do, something, sometime will go wrong. They can do everything under their control to mitigate problems, but something not under their control will crop up to cause a problem they might not have anticipated."

For those of you who are new to purchasing, you need to read these words carefully. Us long-timers know all too well that these words are so true.

Purchasing has its triumphant moments, but also its frustrating ones. The article provides a good case study of a frustrating situation despite a vendor's performance guarantee.

In situations like the one described, the vendor usually is excused from the performance failure due to a Force Majeure clause. If you're not familiar with Force Majeure, you may want to consider enrolling in our online class "Supply Management Contract Writing."

I hope that you're enjoying your weekend.

To Your Career,
Charles Dominick, SPSM
President and Chief Procurement Officer
Next Level Purchasing, Inc.
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