Public sector procurement

Other actors of the public sector and the civil society can contribute to combating counterfeit medicines. Purchasing organizations and NGOs should seriously consider the risk that their operations can be affected by counterfeits and develop appropriate procurement procedures and be vigilant on the field in order to be able to signal suspected cases. 

To be effective, a small drug regulatory authority needs to operate within the context of a defined national drugs policy and to interrelate with other interested bodies, including organizations responsible for drug procurement in the public sector and the national formulary committee, where such exists. 

Four strategic objectives for good pharmaceutical procurement are relevant to any public sector drug supply system, whether it is managed using public or private services or a combination of both. These are as follows (72) ... 

Public Sector Procurement Organic School Meals in Denmark... 

The authors research continues with the closer examination of these transition processes over the next few years. Further research will focus on the relations between the pedagogical function of the school environment and experiential learning of organic school meal production. In yet another study, the authors will concentrate on institutional processes at macro level such as the impact of agri-environmental support schemes on public sector procurement of organic food. Through this research it is anticipated that detailed policy recommendations for practical improvement of organic meal schemes will be formulated. 

It is not unusual for the actual shipment date to be a few days different from the original promised shipment date due to uncertainty in supply chain processes. However, this unreliability might not be acceptable to relationship-based customers. Therefore, Dell offers a special service through Dell Premier accounts at premier.dell.com for business and public sector customers. The service not only provides reports and tools to assist purchasing, asset management, and product support, but also allows customers to hook up their ERP/EDI systems with Dell s to perform real-time computer systems procurement. Through Premier accounts, Dell commits to more responsive and reliable order promising and fulfillment solutions for its relationship-based customers with support from advanced IT systems (see Kraemer and Dedrick 2001). 

Around half of essential medicines used in Tanzania are obtained via public and non-profit procurement. MSD s public sector procurement gives local firms a 15% price preference in competition with importers when both meet the quality hurdles. The effective preference rate is somewhat lower (one interviewee suggested around 9%), because importers prices are landed prices at the port, while local firms price includes delivery to MSD s zonal warehouses. 

Public sector procurement capabilities The view from below ... 

Interviews with clinical and administrative staff in public sector facilities in both countries about their experiences of procurement beiie the image in the aggregated data above, of deariy segmented supply chains. The view from beiow was not of a single linear public sector ordering process, but was more like navigating an interactive maze while constantly distracted by dinical demands. 

Local-level public sector procurement staff had little influence over decisions on wholesale procurement of medicines from different manufacturing sources. Some, when asked, had views and preferences on where medicines should be bought, commenting for example on problems of packaging of locally manufactured items, or positively on patients acceptance of local brands. But decisions on manufacturing source of medicines in both countries were taken at wholesale level with little or no reference to facility-level views. 

Some of these elements are observable also within public sector procurement and can be built upon to create cumulative improvement. Some medical and other supplies (such as furniture items) are bought by the public wholesalers from local suppliers under more flexible purchasing arrangements. Local firms actively produce and supply emergency items (and resent being called upon in this way after they have lost earlier tenders). Furthermore, the public wholesalers have the... 

The second tier, the public sector health care system, serves the remaining 85% of the population. It is under-resourced, with chronic staff shortages, a quadruple burden of disease and systemic lack of funding. Public sector supplies are obtained through tenders administered by the Central Procurement Unit of the Department of Health. It is supplied with 2,400 product lines by an estimated 90 manufacturers and importers, at an estimated value of 1 billion a year in 2014. ... 

The discussion above demonstrates just how strongly a pattern of trade financing can influence the cash flow and business development of local firms. It follows that the design of the payment and credit systems used in public sector procurement can strongly affect the businesses from which the government purchases goods and services. The payment mechanisms in public procurement constitute implicit business financing mechanisms - or a drain on the business. 

In 1993 the Institute of Medicine Gouncil proposed the establishment of a National Vaccine Authority because the private sector alone cannot sustain the costs and risks associated with the development of most Ghil-dren s Vaccine Initiative vaccines, and because the successful development of vaccines requires an integrated process, the committee recommends that an entity, tentatively called the National Vaccine Authority, be organized to advance the development, production, and procurement of new and improved vaccines of limited commercial potential but of global public health need (Mitchell, Philipose, and Sanford 1993). But in its recent report. Strengthening the Supply of Routinely Recommended Vaccines in the United States, the Center for Disease Control s National Vaccine Advisory Committee expressed little sentiment for the establishment of a National Vaccine Authority. 

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