Institute of Supply and Materials Management kicks off programmes for 2011

The Institute of Supply and Materials Management (ISMM) last week announced its first two programmes for the first quarter of 2011.

Kicking off the New Year will be a lecture titled ‘The Next 10 years of Procurement Prospective’ by Charles Holder, the Director General of the International Federation of Purchasing and Supply Management (IFPSM) on 21 January from 6 p.m. at the OPA Auditorium. He will also conduct the ISMM Strategic Planning Workshop on from 22 to 23 January for the benefit of the Members and Students of ISMM.

The ISMM will also hold an intensive training programme on Project Procurement Management involving a 12-day residential source from 7 to 18 February.

“We have developed this intensive training programme as a response to frequent requests made by the Government institutions and the foreign funded projects.

The training programme is designed in such a way that it could definitely contribute towards rapid recovery of global economic recession on regional, national and institutional basis,” ISMM President Chandima Jayatillake said.

He said the programme was targeted at CEOs, general managers and other senior executives involved in project procurement in the public and private sectors. “This is a residential course and of international standard which will immensely benefit the participants to further their careers,” Jayatillake added.

ISMM said the governments of developing countries receive funds on multilateral/bilateral basis as well as from foreign funding agencies amounting to billions of dollars for maintaining projects to fulfil basic human needs and for infrastructure developments. Thus, a major share of annual public expenditure of the Government is allocated for acquire current and capital assets.

However, it is regretted to note that a considerable amount of these funds are unutilised, underutilised or wasted due to lack of expertise or competencies by the implementers of these projects. The quality of the life of human beings could not be improved unless the funds allocated for those mega projects are utilised economically, efficiently and effectively.

Project Procurement Management (PPM) plays a vital role in implementation of the mega projects.PPM focuses essentially on engaging contractors, suppliers, service providers and employing of consultants. Procurement process for acquiring goods, works and non-consulting services shall be conducted in terms of guidelines and manuals and using standard bidding documents of the Government, as well as the funding agency.

Selection of technical experts shall be on the basis of consultancy guidelines and manuals, those are presently in existence. Any procurement activity conducted that does not comply with the appropriate guidelines and procedures will be considered as mis-procurement, leading to the withdrawal of funds by the funding agency.

Implementers will be held responsible for irregular or mis-procurements, leading to disciplinary or legal action. Those who do not possess the required knowledge and experience hesitate to initiate procurement action very often, causing implementation delays in development projects.

It is the primary duty of training institutes to transfer knowledge, skills and attitudes to those who are involved with implementation of large projects in the above context, enabling the successful completion of development projects.  No development project could be successfully completed without a team of trained and competent implementers.

ISMM said its objective is to fill the vacuum in the sphere of procurement management through the ‘Intensive Training Programme on Project Procurement Management’ (ITP-PPM) with its long experience in training and development of procurement professionals.

Founded in 1972 and incorporated by an Act of Parliament in 1981, ISMM is the national body devoted to the promotion and development of the techniques, principles and practices of Purchasing and Supply Chain Management (PSCM). It is a Member Organisation of the Organisation of Professional Associations (OPA) of Sri Lanka in addition to being affiliated to the world body International Federation of Purchasing and Supply Management (IFPSM).

The Government recognises the corporate membership of ISMM as equivalent to a First or Second Class Honours Degree relevant to the field of supply and materials management awarded by a recognised university.