Procurement & supply chain, in plain language

How a requirement becomes a contract, and a contract becomes a well-run supply.

Buyer's Ledger explains how purchasing and supply chain work is actually done: how offers are compared on more than price, how suppliers are measured, and which rules now reach into supply chains.

Start with the procurement process

Cargo ships at anchor on a calm sea, seen as dark silhouettes under a stormy sky with light breaking through the clouds, in black and white
Cargo ships at anchor off Vancouver: most of what an organisation buys has spent weeks at sea.
11Incoterms 2020 rules, and where risk passes to the buyer 10steps from identifying a need to managing the contract 4quadrants in the Kraljic portfolio matrix 2025the UK Procurement Act 2023 in force since 24 February

Where to start

New to the field, or buying across borders: the guides most readers open next.

Black and white photograph of tall stacks of bound documents on long tables in an office workshopSourcing & negotiation

Tender evaluation and scoring

Weightings, scoring scales and price formulas: a worked example, the trap that lets a losing bid decide the winner, and the rules public buyers must follow.

 Two metal office filing cabinets side by side, one beige and one grey, with label holders on their drawersSuppliers & risk

Supplier onboarding checks

Identity, tax number, sanctions, ownership and bank details: what to verify before a new supplier is set up, and who should do it.

 A cotton picker working in a field at sunset under an orange skyTrade, law & sustainability

EU forced labour ban

Scope, investigation steps, deadlines and a buyer's preparation plan for the ban that applies from 14 December 2027.

 A row of six differently shaped and numbered mailboxes on a wooden stand in front of dense green foliageSourcing & negotiation

RFI, RFP or RFQ?

Which request to send, when, and what each document should contain.

 Silhouette of a ship-to-shore container crane with its boom lowered, against a pale blue sky over a harbour breakwaterTrade, law & sustainability

Incoterms 2020

The 11 rules, where risk and cost pass to the buyer, and why FOB is often misused.

 A hand holding a pen ticks boxes on a handwritten checklist in a squared notebookSuppliers & risk

Supplier scorecards

KPIs for quality, delivery, cost and risk, weighting, and review meetings that change things.

 Rows of ornate brass post office boxes, each with a small window and a number from 544 to 624Sourcing & negotiation

Category management

Defining categories, the Kraljic matrix and how to write a category plan.

 A hand-coloured nineteenth-century world map on Mercator's projection, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans criss-crossed by old shipping routesSuppliers & risk

Geopolitics and supply chains

Chokepoints, sanctions, export controls and tariffs, and a method for mapping exposure.

 Threads strung across an old weaving loom inside a dim textile workshopTrade, law & sustainability

Supply chain due diligence

What the CSRD, CSDDD and the OECD framework mean for buyers and suppliers.

All guides by topic

Four topics, every guide in each.

Process & tools

How purchasing work flows from need to payment, how spend is analysed and which software supports each step.

Sourcing & negotiation

Running tenders, comparing offers on total cost, managing categories and preparing negotiations.

Suppliers & risk

Measuring supplier performance and building resilience against disruption, from single plants to geopolitics.

Trade, law & sustainability

Incoterms, public procurement law and the due diligence and reporting duties that reach into supply chains.