Bhaskar Ghoshal, vice president – Commercials, is responsible for end-to-end purchase and procurement of all types of goods and services for 160+ centres across India and other SAARC countries at Dr. Lal PathLabs Ltd, an international service provider of diagnostic and related healthcare tests. He has been instrumental in setting up 100+ green field laboratory projects and ramping up the total number of labs from initial 30 to 160+. Also, contributed towards expanding business opportunities by venturing into veterinary lab space and introduction of 150+ type of tests as part of the services portfolio.

In terms of supplier development and management, he has grown the supplier network exponentially, tied up with key global level suppliers and negotiated on contractual terms to generate cost efficiencies. This also includes supplier evaluations and audits to ensure compliance with supplier quality and delivery metrics. Bhaskar Ghoshal, shared his views on the process involved in procurement of equipment from suppliers.

Need for supplier selection arises in the following situations:-

Discontinuation of existing vendor on account of poor performance Requirement of alternate vendor as requested by user department.

-Change in business requirement.

-Business expansion or development of new Labs/PSC's.

-Change required as per New Law /Taxes like GST etc.

We Conduct initial level enquiry with the vendors to collate the following information:-

-Availability of the required product in required quantity.

-Technical capability of the vendor

-Financial capability of the vendor

-Infrastructural capability of the vendor etc

-Past Performance

-Credit terms

-Goodwill

Prepare the RFQ (Request for Quotation) capturing the following details:-

-Item Name

-Technical specifications

-Quantity

-Timelines for sending the quotations etc.

-Sample Testing and evaluations

Receive the samples from the vendor and forward it to respective user department / Quality department for quality assessment.

For Reagent, Kit & Capex items - Forward to user department for quality check

For Locally used item & Consumables - Forward to QA (Quality Assurance) team for quality check.

Review the sample and check whether it stands upto the quality standards and approve the same on email.

Negotiate with the vendors to arrive at a beneficial rate taking note of the following:-

-Company positioning with the suppliers.

-Quality offered by the vendors.

-After support services provided by the vendors.

-Market demand of the product.

-No. of suppliers available for the product etc.

Prepare the comparative statement in the standard format with the following details:-

1. Price (including taxes)
2. Credit period
3. Payment and delivery terms
4. Quality of the product offered
5. Discount offered etc.

Evaluate the vendors and categorise as L1, L2 and L3.

Review the accuracy and completeness of the comparative statement with the quotations received

Verify the comparative prepared by the CPD with the supporting documents forwarded in the above step and approve the same.

Prepare cover letter for all Capex item and for vendor whose annual estimated purchase during the year exceeds Rs 1 Crore detailing the following:-

-Technical terms

-Financial terms

-Commercial terms

Forward the cover letter along with RFQ's, Quotation, Comparatives in sequential order for approval by respective authorities as per the DOA.