Page 47 - Procurement guidelines for smart sustainable cities - A U4SSC deliverable

Why it’s important

Having a clear strategy on what to do in an emergency is essential to act decisively once a crisis
happens. Early intervention can help ensure an emergency does not reach the stage where suppliers
are overwhelmed and unable to respond to buying requests.

Planning for an emergency can include:

• reviewing how previous emergencies were handled;
• training staff in using emergency buying procedures;

• carrying out risk assessments and continuity planning; and

• investing in or scaling up digital buying tools.

What this means

To help prepare staff, public officials and stakeholders should:

• set up an emergency response team, including buyers, contract managers, legal and technical
experts, and senior decision-makers;

• run training exercises to test processes and familiarize staff with emergency buying;
• prepare checklists and contract templates to use in an emergency buying situation;

• publish clear guidance on when emergency buying procedures can be used and how they will
be approved; and
• use digital buying tools, for example, supplier databases and online contracting software, to
help speed up the buying process.

To assess risks to essential services, public officials and stakeholders should:

• identify strategic suppliers that provide critical goods or services, for example, medical devices
or cybersecurity services;

• monitor suppliers that may be facing financial challenges and will not be able to respond during
an emergency; and

• review any previous emergency spending with suppliers, assessing any concerns around value
for money, delivery and transparency.

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