Are we focusing too much on procurement?

I remember a conversation I had as a teenager in which a friend and I were discussing life partners. She thought that, out of the billions of people on earth, we had only one true life partner and I thought that any one of several would do provided both partners put in the effort (perhaps our agendas were different).

Now, I find myself behaving like I’ve changed my position on this. I spend weeks/months arranging the ideal RFT, selecting the perfectly-matched supplier, placing my client in the strongest negotiating position, negotiating the agreement and, at the end, feel like I’ve set up a fairy tale relationship. Sometimes, the relationship works out, sometimes it does not.

Is this worthwhile effort? What if we spent less effort pre-contract and more effort post-contract? What if we quickly selected a supplier with the skills to do the job and then invested the effort we saved in the procurement process in ensuring the relationship works? Would the overall cost and quality of service be better?

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