Strategic Procurement

Planned and systematic

The Strategic Procurement develops the general strategy in accordance with purchasing management specifications and in consultation with the Operational Procurement. It is also responsible for the technical refinement of a raft of subject areas:

Processes and guidelines

The Strategic Procurement lays down the guidelines for purchasing and procurement and defines the associated processes. These comprise everything connected to the purchasing activities of KfW Bankengruppe, including, for instance, the requirement to split duties and responsibilities in order to ensure that no one person or unit is able to request goods, issue purchase orders as well as pay invoices.

The strategic unit advises and supports the operational unit of the Procurement Department and the requesting departments of KfW Bankengruppe in all aspects of purchasing. The Strategic Procurement unit liaises very closely on, or may even take responsibility for, handling expensive and complex projects. At present, for instance, it is engaged in optimising the supplier structure.

Internal services

The Strategic Procurement is also responsible for the internal clearing of services, which includes cost and service planning as well as the actual settlement of invoices. In addition, the Procurement Department conducts annual surveys of its in-house customers to ascertain whether they are satisfied with the services or whether particular processes need to be modified.

The control and management of the electronic KfW purchasing system also fall within the remit of the Strategic Procurement unit. This entails use of the SAP SRM (Supplier Relationship Management) system by means of an integrated P2P (Procure-to-Pay) process. The strategic unit is currently working on a contract award platform for EU calls for tender that will enable potential bidders to easily direct their enquiries to KfW.It is also in the process of introducing a new system for the management of procurement contracts that will simplify the internal procedures of KfW.

Key figures and controlling

Conclusive key figures and needs-based controlling are important prerequisites for successful purchasing. That is why the Strategic Procurement collects a raft of key figures and documents them regularly. Key figures are considered to be all information that helps in the management of purchases, the improvement of purchasing strategy and comparison with similar organisations (benchmarking). These factors supply important information for KfW Bankengruppe as a whole, but they also enable the work of the Procurement Department to be continuously improved. At present we determine the following key figures: