Wow! You have serious procurement needs when you can even consider doing something like this. When I first read about this possibility coming from General Motors, I thought it was a pretty exciting prospect. This concept is not new, and I have personally seen it work exceptionally well. The function of outsourcing repetitive, non-strategic sourcing work has a very compelling value proposition which allows an organization to deploy its limited resources to more important things. In most cases, very large procurement organizations are benefited by allowing a 3rd party, like Infosys/ICG/Corbus/etc, to manage the laborious sourcing of indirect goods and services.

Activities that would be handled by a third party may include dealing with questions from vendors, following up with suppliers to make sure bids are submitted on time and informing successful tenders.

A spokeswoman for GM said: “We are studying the feasibility of using outside services on a limited basis to support buyers in RFQ processing. No decision has been made regarding the implementation of this proposal. A lot of work remains to be done relative to this study.”

Even if GM has not committed to this idea, they at least “get it”, which is a promising sign. Did I mention we have successfully done this for 3 years at a company just as big?