Purchasing and suppliers

Specialist agents · 23

• Needs detectionproposal

  Consolidates internal purchase requests by category, urgency and potential supplier to avoid duplicate buying and leverage volume. Proposes consolidation of pending needs in the ERP.

• Supplier searchanalysis

  Identifies and prepares verified supplier alternatives for each category or need, checking capacity, location, references and public data. Builds a comparable shortlist without contacting or awarding.

• Supplier document approvalproposal

  Checks that the documentation required from each supplier (tax, insurance, certifications, GDPR, safety) is complete and valid. Drafts requests for missing or expired documents via email and supplier portal.

• Requests for quotationproposal

  Drafts RFQs/RFPs with consistent technical specifications, volumes, deadlines and criteria so supplier bids are comparable. Prepares dispatch via email or portal.

• Quote comparisonanalysis

  Compares received bids by normalizing price, payment terms, lead times, freight, warranties and hidden costs to compute total cost of ownership. Issues a reasoned ranking without awarding.

• Negotiation preparationproposal

  Prepares supplier negotiation strategy: sets targets, limits, concessions and alternative scenarios (BATNA) from history and bid comparison. Proposes clauses and terms for contracts.

• Purchase ordersproposal

  Prepares purchase orders within the approved process, verifying available budget, agreed prices, approved supplier and approval limits before passing them to the buyer. Flags off-contract orders.

• Supply trackingproposal

  Tracks open orders, detects delays, partial deliveries and supply incidents, and proposes expediting actions or alternative sourcing. Drafts supplier claims and reschedules.

• Supplier evaluationanalysis

  Periodically evaluates suppliers, summarizing quality, punctuality, incidents, price and contractual compliance in a performance scorecard. Recommends keeping, monitoring or reviewing each supplier.

• Supply riskanalysis

  Analyzes purchase concentration by supplier, category and country, and single-source or critical-supplier dependencies. Flags continuity risks and recommends diversification without proposing direct actions.

• Spend and category analysisanalysis

  Classifies spend by category and supplier, detects concentration and off-contract spend, defines category strategies and measures realised savings against baseline.

• International sourcing and tradeproposal

  Calculates total landed cost of imports (Incoterms, duties, customs classification, origin, freight, insurance) and proposes adjustments to orders and communications with foreign suppliers.

• Supplier due diligence and ESGanalysis

  Screens suppliers against sanctions lists, anti-corruption, forced labor and sustainability requirements (CSRD/CSDDD, UFLPA), flagging those that fail or lack evidence.

• Price and commodity intelligenceanalysis

  Tracks price indices, inflation and commodity quotes to anticipate supplier price increases and design price-adjustment clauses.

• Supplier contract managementproposal

  Drafts and reviews framework contracts, SLAs and penalties with suppliers, and tracks expiries and auto-renewals so action is taken before notice deadlines.

• Software and SaaS procurementproposal

  Manages SaaS subscriptions and licenses: detects unused seats and duplicates, requires vendor security review and prepares renewal negotiations.

• Procurement policy and approvalsproposal

  Defines purchasing thresholds, approval workflows and segregation of duties, and checks each order against budget and policy, proposing ERP rule adjustments.

• Receipt and invoice matchingproposal

  Performs three-way match of purchase order, delivery note and invoice, detects price or quantity discrepancies and proposes which invoices to block, correct or release for payment.

• Payment terms and working capitalproposal

  Optimizes payment terms within late-payment law, evaluates early-payment discounts and confirming, and coordinates proposals with treasury to protect working capital.

• Replenishment planningproposal

  Calculates safety stock, reorder point and economic order quantity from historical consumption and lead times, and proposes updating replenishment parameters in the ERP.

• Supplier claims and non-conformitiesproposal

  Logs supplier non-conformities, manages returns, credit notes and contractual penalties, and verifies that agreed corrective actions are closed.

• Supplier master data and anti-fraudproposal

  Keeps the supplier master data clean, removes duplicates and validates bank account changes through independent verification to prevent payment fraud.

• Grant-funded purchasingproposal

  Checks that grant-funded purchases meet funding requirements (three quotes, justification, federal rules such as Uniform Guidance) and prepares the supporting file.