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Recognized by Gartner, Spend Matters and Supply and Demand Chain Executive
Complete more strategic sourcing projects without adding procurement headcount.
K2 Sourcing combines experienced strategic sourcing professionals with a proven strategic sourcing platform to plan, manage, analyze and negotiate your RFPs, RFQs and reverse auctions.
Your team gains the benefits of advanced eSourcing technology without installing software, learning another application, training suppliers or managing the administrative workload. You provide the business requirements and retain control over supplier selection. K2 Sourcing manages the process.
One managed process from planning through closure
Experienced project leadership and technology working together.
The capacity challenge
Most procurement teams do not lack opportunities. They lack the capacity, technology or independent process support needed to execute them effectively.
Important RFPs and RFQs are delayed because buyers are supporting daily operational demands. Supplier agreements renew without sufficient competition. Strategic sourcing professionals spend hours following up with suppliers, consolidating spreadsheets, organizing stakeholder feedback and preparing comparison reports.
Even organizations that own a strategic sourcing application may struggle to gain its full value when occasional users must learn the technology, build projects, train suppliers and manage every step independently.
K2 Sourcing adds experienced RFP management and reverse auction capacity exactly when it is needed. Your team can complete more strategic sourcing projects, respond to stakeholder demand and improve supplier decisions without adding permanent headcount.
Add execution support without recruiting, training or carrying excess permanent resources.
Measurable business outcomes
Clients receive a structured process designed to improve savings, reduce cycle time, remove administrative work and provide flexible strategic sourcing capacity that can expand or contract with business demand.
Organizations proficient in eSourcing technology can achieve greater savings than organizations relying primarily on traditional processes.
When the category, market conditions and supplier participation are appropriate, professionally managed reverse auctions can outperform Excel and Word based negotiations.
Structured workflows, proven templates, supplier engagement, automated response management and organized stakeholder evaluation accelerate completion.
K2 Sourcing manages the technology and operational workload so internal buyers can focus on decisions, implementation and savings realization.
Add strategic sourcing resources when stakeholder demand increases, then scale back when project volume declines. K2 Sourcing can support one urgent RFP, several simultaneous projects or a continuing pipeline of strategic sourcing work, without the delay, cost or long term commitment of a permanent hire.
People and technology together
Additional labor alone does not create a consistent strategic sourcing process. Technology alone does not plan the project, engage suppliers, clarify responses, facilitate stakeholder discussions or negotiate final business terms.
K2 Sourcing combines experienced strategic sourcing professionals with the K2 Sourcing strategic sourcing platform. The same professionals managing your project use the technology every day.
There is no software installation, implementation project or requirement for buyers and stakeholders to become application experts.
Project leadership, supplier support, structured evaluation, commercial analysis and complete visibility.
Advanced eSourcing technology without asking your team to install, learn or administer another application.
Managed from start to finish
A documented process keeps the project moving, suppliers engaged and stakeholders prepared to make a well supported business decision.
Define project goals, scope, timeline, stakeholder responsibilities, supplier requirements, evaluation criteria, negotiation approach and decision milestones.
Build, configure, test and launch the project within the K2 Sourcing strategic sourcing platform using proven templates, questionnaires, pricing tables, instructions, document requirements, timelines and evaluation criteria.
Introduce suppliers to the process, explain requirements, provide application training, encourage participation, send reminders and maintain professional supplier communications.
Receive supplier questions, coordinate responses with client stakeholders, issue consistent clarifications and ensure participating suppliers have the information required to prepare complete proposals.
Organize pricing, qualifications, capabilities, service commitments, commercial terms and other responses into structured reports that make supplier differences easier to identify.
Configure scoring criteria, establish evaluator responsibilities, collect independent stakeholder assessments, analyze results and facilitate discussions where evaluators interpret supplier responses differently.
Plan and conduct live reverse auctions when appropriate. When a reverse auction is not the right method, K2 Sourcing supports structured manual negotiations designed to improve pricing, service commitments and total business value.
Review pricing, payment terms, service levels, implementation responsibilities, renewal provisions, service agreements and statements of work.</p><p>Compare the final agreement against the awarded RFP response and negotiated commitments. Legal review and approval remain the client’s responsibility.
A clear operating model
K2 Sourcing removes the project workload while your team retains ownership of the business requirements and final supplier decision.
Business objectives, specifications, service requirements, stakeholder knowledge, the initial supplier list, responses to supplier questions, implementation decisions and final supplier selection.
Project planning, negotiation strategy, strategic sourcing technology, RFP and RFQ templates, supplier training and engagement, response clarification, stakeholder evaluation support, reverse auction management, manual negotiations, commercial analysis, final documentation and supplier communications.
The standard managed service assumes that the client provides the initial supplier list. When additional competition is needed, K2 Sourcing can add supplier discovery, market research, supplier qualification and global sourcing solutions.
Experience, process and proof
Since 2003, K2 Sourcing has helped procurement teams complete important RFPs, RFQs, reverse auctions and supplier negotiations when they need additional capacity, exceptional technology or an independent party to manage the process.
Every managed project is led by a dedicated strategic sourcing project manager using the same strategic sourcing platform, templates, reporting tools and documented quality processes refined across thousands of engagements. Our team members average more than 12 years of strategic sourcing experience and have individually managed hundreds, and in some cases thousands, of competitive sourcing projects.
K2 Sourcing maintains category specific RFP templates, questionnaires, pricing tables, scoring models and total cost models developed through consulting and managed engagements. Each can be customized to the client’s business requirements, project goals and approval process.
“They have absolutely perfected the process.”Joe SwansonVice President of Operations, Regal Ware
A stronger managed process
Clear instructions, application training, reminders and direct supplier support improve participation and reduce incomplete or late proposals. Standard questionnaires and structured pricing tables make responses easier to compare.
Every communication, evaluation, negotiation and result is maintained within one platform, providing stronger documentation and a clear record of how each decision was reached.
Independent scoring, documented supplier responses, structured discussions and consistent evaluation criteria help reduce the influence of familiarity, presentation quality, hierarchy and early supplier preferences.
A nonbiased process helps stakeholders evaluate suppliers against documented requirements rather than relying primarily on existing relationships or initial impressions.
Suppliers understand that they are participating in a competitive, organized and professionally managed process.
K2 Sourcing can use live reverse auctions, structured negotiation rounds, proposal clarifications and commercial term comparisons to pursue value beyond the initial proposal.
Final analysis can consider service, quality, capacity, implementation, payment terms, risk, freight, tariffs, tooling, contractual flexibility and other total cost factors.
A flexible path to ongoing support
A single managed RFP, RFQ or reverse auction provides a practical way to evaluate the service and experience the labor savings firsthand.
Organizations with recurring demand can expand the model into an outsourced RFP Desk. K2 Sourcing provides flexible strategic sourcing capacity that can scale up or down based on stakeholder needs, project volume and business priorities.
This gives category managers the execution support required to serve more of the organization without growing the team. K2 Sourcing manages the technology, supplier engagement, response analysis, evaluations, negotiations and process administration while the procurement team stays focused on stakeholder relationships, business priorities and final decisions.
Common questions
No. The K2 Sourcing strategic sourcing platform, the same strategic sourcing application our project managers use on every engagement, is included as part of the managed service. Your team receives the benefits of the technology without installing, implementing or administering another application.
Stakeholders may receive brief instructions for activities such as reviewing reports or completing evaluations. They do not need to learn how to build or manage RFPs, RFQs or reverse auctions within the application.
The client normally provides the initial supplier list. Supplier discovery, global supplier research and qualification support can be added when additional competition is required.
The client always retains final supplier selection and award authority. K2 Sourcing organizes the information, supports the evaluation and assists with negotiations.
Yes. Clients can begin with one RFP, RFQ or reverse auction and expand the relationship based on future strategic sourcing capacity needs.
Yes. K2 Sourcing can support multiple simultaneous projects or operate as an ongoing outsourced RFP Desk.
No. Reverse auctions are used only when the category, supplier market, project structure and business objectives make them appropriate. K2 Sourcing can use manual negotiations or a combination of negotiation methods when those approaches will produce a better result.
Yes. K2 Sourcing can compare supplier terms, organize proposed revisions, coordinate commercial negotiations and help confirm that agreed business terms are reflected in service agreements and statements of work. The client and its legal advisors retain responsibility for legal review and approval.
Move important projects forward
Whether you need additional capacity, exceptional technology or an independent party to manage the process, K2 Sourcing provides dedicated project leadership, proven processes and experienced strategic sourcing professionals to move important projects forward.
Complete more RFPs, RFQs, reverse auctions and supplier negotiations, improve stakeholder confidence and achieve your strategic sourcing goals without adding permanent headcount.
Performance figures reflect findings reported in Gartner’s Best Practices in eSourcing, Aberdeen strategic sourcing research, other independent research, and K2 Sourcing internal project metrics.
Have a question about our sourcing services or application? Give us a call or fill out the form and we’ll be in touch shortly.
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+1 (877) 824-9809