Page 50 - Procurement guidelines for smart sustainable cities - A U4SSC deliverable

3.2.2 Engage with and support suppliers

Support existing suppliers and identify new ones to work with during an emergency.

Why it’s important

Managing supplier relationships is even more important during an emergency. As well as working
with existing suppliers under difficult circumstances, buyers may need to approach, evaluate and
contract new suppliers in a matter of days or weeks.

At the same time, buyers have important responsibilities to ensure suppliers are qualified, financially
viable and able to supply what they say they will.

What it means

At the beginning of any emergency situation, public officials and stakeholders should:

• contact their existing suppliers and discuss any challenges they are facing; for example, sourcing
components from their supply chain;

• share information openly about what they are planning to buy and if they are planning to use
emergency procedures;

• invite new suppliers who may not have worked with government before to register on their
supplier database;

• be clear with suppliers if they are using accelerated or emergency buying procedures and when
contracts will revert to normal; and

• look at how to speed up supplier registration and reduce red tape.

During an emergency, public officials and stakeholders should also:

• consider whether they can use existing suppliers to provide services in a different way; for
example, by using technology suppliers to provide medical equipment to hospitals;

• consult suppliers on whether they can repurpose existing products or services to meet
emergency needs; and

• consider using international suppliers if needs cannot be met locally.

To help support suppliers during an emergency public officials and stakeholders should:

• provide extensions if an emergency has impacted their ability to deliver in the original timeframe;

• avoid terminating contracts and instead look into how modifications can be made to support
delivery;

36 Procurement guidelines for smart sustainable cities | May 2023