Is the Corona crisis changing procurement?

(02/2021) The corona crisis has presumably permanently strengthened the position of the purchasing departments in the hospitals. This was the assumption made by the participants in a further discussion event at the digital procurement congress. “The high level of commitment shown by the buyers is rewarded,” explained Dr. Axel Kaiser from Lohfert & Lohfert management consultancy, which specializes in hospitals. The procurement system in German clinics has also proven to be efficient.

System-made PSA deficiency
Karin Gensow, managing director of the Prospitalia purchasing organization, described security of supply as a key issue for hospitals. Actually, there was no shortage of personal protective equipment in Germany during the first Corona wave in spring. The products were only distributed unevenly in the state: while the warehouses in the clinics were full in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, they were empty in Bavaria. “There is simply no overview of where which goods are available, stored or can be delivered.” Intelligent distribution of goods is therefore needed. Gensow also criticized the interference of the public hand in the supply of medical goods: "The parallel structures created by the government in purchasing goods were rather a hindrance." You don't need a national warehouse with masks, etc. What is needed is rather a dialogue with the tried and tested experts who know the market, namely the purchasing groups and suppliers.

Price hikers are losers
Looking back on the corona supply crisis, it has been shown that strategic system suppliers prefer to supply long-term partners and customers from purchasing organizations and clinics. "Losers are the price hikers who keep switching suppliers for a few cents," Gensow stated. In the case of tenders, security of supply and supply are therefore becoming an increasingly important award criterion and no longer just the price. Due to Corona, this aspect has now also reached the management boards of the clinics. On the other hand, hospitals would have to be more committed to their industrial partners.

Do not need national warehouses
Prof. Dr. Dr. Wilfried von Eiff also made a state-ordered material cost devaluation since 2015 responsible for the price pressure practiced on medical device manufacturers. The signals of the delivery demolitions were then not taken seriously before the Corona crisis. The state is not the best buyer either. In the short term, he was able to fill gaps through international procurement, but in the long term the framework conditions should be changed. Cooperations between clinics, industry and purchasing groups are quite capable of absorbing delivery bottlenecks. Instead of national warehouses, the public sector should rather strengthen replacement production. Another comment from Eiffs was thought-provoking: up to the beginning of the year, well-known studies had found that there were 600 to 800 hospitals nationwide: "In the Corona crisis, we would have looked pretty old without these capacities." Like Gensow, he also stated noted a deterioration in logistics services in the market. Here, too, we do not mean the tried and tested medical logisticians, but lateral entrants - keywords: damaged goods packaging, delivery at the wrong time or in the wrong quantities.

Sustainability over price
Procurement law expert Andreas Haak from the business law firm Dentons Europe confirmed that sustainability aspects are now increasingly playing a role in awarding contracts, whereas in the past it was primarily the price. Innovation partnerships are also possible from a procurement law perspective and are therefore being implemented more and more frequently. Stephan Richtzenhain from the textile service provider Sitex referred to the performance in terms of reusable, washable microfiber protective gowns, surgical gowns and masks. Overall, sustainability is not that expensive. You have to move from a system of competition to a system of creative partnership in the market.

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