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musgrave group / e-tendering and cost management

The Musgrave Group was founded in Cork in 1876 and has grown to become Irelandís biggest grocery distributor with annual sales in 2006 of €4.4 billion. Its mission is to be the number one supporter of independent retailers in the main markets in which it operates.

Background
Musgrave Retail Project Managers coordinate ongoing store refurbishment projects with over 800 retailers in Supervalu and Centra stores across the Republic of Ireland. A large proportion of the Retail Project Manager's time involved administration tasks such as putting together a bill of quantities and also detailing, sending and then following up tender documents. This left little time for tracking project costs and leveraging from the Group's buying power to reduce overall expenditure. Much of the activity was tracked and coordinated using traditional communication methods such as email and spreadsheets. In order to increase the number of store refurbishments each year, utilise more of the teams' skills, and maximise buying power, the company recognised their need for better cost tracking and tender management.

The company scoured the market for a solution that would help them to solve the problem finally deciding on Business Collaborator Ltd due to their expertise in delivering successful customer-focussed collaboration solutions within the retail sector.

Solution
After discussing requirements and examining existing tendering policies and procedures, a fully functional system was delivered within three months. It is currently used by over 80 people in dozens of organisations and provides a secure central document repository for all the tender documents with full version control and audit history of every action.

It automatically notifies relevant suppliers when a new tender is available, and sends reminders as deadlines draw near. Suppliers can securely download and read bid-related documentation and submit their bid responses online. Once completed, the document is locked and cannot be changed, allowing only the Retail Project Managers to review the tenders and carry out a cost comparison.

Cost tracking is a powerful element of the system. Project information is reviewed on an item-by-item basis, comparing the purchase price, as well as the lowest and average price secured. Estimates for installation and ongoing maintenance costs are also compared to provide an overview of best value for each store.

Essentially, the system has allowed Musgrave to reduce administration costs by streamlining their tender processes, improve their management of their supply chain in relation to their store refurbishment projects, and recognise opportunities to leverage their buying power across projects.

Key Features

Ability to create realistic budgets based on high visibility of costs on similar projects and recognise opportunities to leverage the Group's buying power

Enables the price tracking of thousands of items in the system with the comparison of average price and lowest price, based on the last 12 months of purchases

Streamlined tender process enables a high level of automation on routine tasks such as sending out latest tender documents

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