Protected Procurement

Supply chain risks have never been so prominent in the minds of businesses and governments.

2020’s COVID-lockdown disrupted the flow of both raw materials and finished goods. This caused supply shortages and demand spikes, the impacts of which were felt well beyond the provision of medical supplies. 2021’s labour shortages and fuel crisis then demonstrated how supply and labour shocks combined can prompt public panic, surges in demand, causing major disruption.

In parallel, the 2020 SolarWinds attack showed how supply chains can be compromised by malicious actors to devastating effect. Now a Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and its resulting geopolitical instability will likely continue to have effects on supply chains.

Outsourcing is an essential part of business, bringing with it a range of benefits including efficiencies, cost savings, and access to expertise. However, each time you outsource, you give away some control over your business operations and assets. Maintaining confidence in the security and integrity of your business requires you to: trust both your domestic and international suppliers will deliver the service you need; trust that they will protect your assets; and trust that if things do go wrong the consequences to your business will be manageable.

Protected Procurement is here to help businesses and organisations of all shapes and sizes secure their supply chain. The guidance is designed to help you embed security across every stage of your supply chain and to protect your business from supply chain attacks. The advice has been created in partnership with the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) and industry specialists.

Our campaign is designed to alert business leaders, procurement professionals, commercial teams, and security professionals to the risks to their organisations via their supply chains, and direct them to the Protected Procurement webpage to access guidance on how to develop their supply chain security, avoid business disruption, and protect their business.

Protected Procurement sits alongside Safeguarding Supply: Supply Chain Resilience Guidance authored by the Department for International Trade (DIT). Safeguarding Supply has a corresponding partner toolkit which is launching soon.

Information about the Protected Procurement guidance

You can find the Protected Procurement guidance here: https://www.cpni.gov.uk/protected-procurement

The guidance is split into three distinct products:

1.Guidance for Business Leaders (https://www.cpni.gov.uk/protected-procurement-business-leaders)

Top-level guidance on protected businesses from supply chain attacks, aiming to get business leaders to prioritise and resource supply chain security.

2.Guidance for Practitioners (https://www.cpni.gov.uk/protected-procurement-practitioners)

Practical guidance for those responsible for implementing supply chain security within an organisation – procurement professionals, commercial teams, security professionals, and others.

3.Guidance for Suppliers (https://www.cpni.gov.uk/protected-procurement-suppliers)

Guidance for suppliers on developing their security profile, aiming to encourage suppliers to see security as part of their competitive edge.

Each product is accompanied with a downloadable booklet. There is also a scenarios booklet to aid understanding.

The guidance contains a host of information that will help organisations develop their supply chain security and protect their businesses. The webpages outline the different supply chain threats businesses face, how to reduce exposure to those threats, and how to embed security throughout the procurement process to reduce the likelihood and impact of supply chain attacks.

There are also downloadable considerations documents which provide examples of due diligence questions, supplier assurance questions, and security clauses within contracts.