RT-413

Problem Statement

Traditional supplier qualification strategies focused on financial, insurance, and safety resulting in a supply chain that cannot adequately respond to disruptions and uncertainty. Previous CII research identified supplier selection’s importance in project delivery and suggested specific strategies such as partnering or alliancing (RT-341) and engaging suppliers early in the project delivery workflow (RT-130) to improve project performance (CII 1998; CII 2019). Additionally, research has suggested that vertical and/or horizontal supply chain integration makes systemic innovations more likely to be adopted throughout the supply chain (Hall et al. 2018).

While these strategies highlighted the importance of collaboration between stakeholders, such as owners, EPCs, and suppliers, they have yet to be transformed into specific supplier evaluation criteria. Focusing solely on “traditional” qualification criteria has caused lost opportunities for the industry because owners and EPCs do not always engage suppliers to leverage their domain expertise at a project’s outset. Therefore, it is imperative to rethink supplier qualification programs to engage suppliers early in a project’s life cycle to fully leverage their expertise to improve project performance.

Objective

The essential question of this work is: How can organizations set up effective supplier qualification programs that will improve project performance by reducing supply chain risks while also promoting innovation and collaboration?

This exploratory work will focus on two specific research objectives:

1. Determine methods of measuring key supplier metrics related to risk minimization, innovation promotion, and collaboration promotion as identified in the exploratory study.

2. Capture best practices and develop recommendations for supplier engagement strategies.

3. Identify drivers, enablers, and barriers to implementing supplier qualification and engagement strategies.

4. Develop tools and guidelines that enable CII members to more effectively qualify and engage suppliers to improve project performance.

The findings will form a guidebook that will enable CII members to effectively qualify and engage suppliers to improve project performance by reducing supply chain risks while promoting innovation and collaboration. This guidebook will be essential as the capital projects industry faces increasing uncertainty and disruption.