5. Assessment of material needs and procurement planning
Based on the initial assessment of the emergency situation and CARE’s response plans, undertake an immediate assessment of procurement requirements and develop a procurement plan using the following steps:
- Ensure good communication/coordination/collaboration in all planning between the programme, logistics and procurement units at all stages.
- Obtain a list of items or services to be procured from the emergency team (both relief supplies to be delivered to beneficiaries defined by the programme unit, and support equipment and supplies required by all emergency team members-for example, logistics, telecommunications and IT, visibility materials, and security equipment).
- Confirm the product specifications with the requesting team members and ensure they meet Sphere and other technical standards. (If possible, this should already be documented in the EPP.)
- Estimate the volume/quantity of all emergency relief items to be procured-both from local and from overseas locations.
- Collaborate with the logistics unit to assess transport and delivery requirements (see also Chapter 1 Logistics)
- Assess the number of locations that need to be served, such as sub-offices, field offices, IDP/refugee camps, distribution centres, etc.
- Establish the distances that need to be covered from the CO central location to the various sites.
- Estimate the turnaround time for light vehicles and delivery trucks.
- Prepare a procurement plan for the expected duration of the emergency response to avoid any interruption in supply that could negatively affect project activities.