Menu
Sign In Search Podcasts Charts People & Topics Add Podcast API Pricing
Podcast Image

Art of Procurement

BTW EP 11: "Poachers Turned Game Wardens:" The "Tuners" on Indirect Supplier Tactics (Part 2)

11 Jun 2025

Description

Sometimes the most damning evidence about an industry or an organization comes from the inside. In this second installment of "Buy: The Way…To Purposeful Procurement's" deep dive into supplier tactics, two former supply executives continue exposing the ins and outs of the supplier playbook they used on procurement when they were on the other side of the fence.  Bob Schreiner, former CIA section chief and G4s operations executive, explains how security guard service providers can obscure margin increases within seemingly reasonable wage adjustments for officers. He also exposes the "position rate variance" tactic, where suppliers charge premium rates for senior guards to fill junior positions, and also how disasters can become margin-grabbing bonanzas for suppliers. Keith Robinson, one of only 150 board-certified entomologists working commercially in North America, exposes seasonal billing schemes in the pest control industry, where compliance rates plummet in colder months, yet billing continues unchanged. Perhaps most shocking is his revelation that 80-90 percent of fogging and fumigation services are often completely avoidable. These true stories from industry insiders point to a troubling reality: procurement is sometimes so focused on up-front savings that they inadvertently signal to suppliers exactly how to game the system. In effect, procurement ends up creating the perfect conditions for the kind of post-contract chicanery that can create significant cost increases for the business over the years, without any change in service scope or delivery.    Links: Bob Schreiner on LinkedIn Keith Robinson on LinkedIn Rich Ham on LinkedIn Learn more at FineTuneUs.com

Audio
Featured in this Episode

No persons identified in this episode.

Transcription

This episode hasn't been transcribed yet

Help us prioritize this episode for transcription by upvoting it.

0 upvotes
🗳️ Sign in to Upvote

Popular episodes get transcribed faster

Comments

There are no comments yet.

Please log in to write the first comment.