Fresh Purchase Planner Interview Questions & Answers:

1. What is Reciprocal trading?

Reciprocal trading provides participating nations with equivalent competitive trading opportunities based on mutual agreements negotiated to adjust tariffs, duties, and customs restrictions in order to increase foreign trade and improve border-to-border relationships among participating countries.

2. What is Counter trading?

Counter trading offers cash poor countries and organizations greater access to the world markets by offering them an alternate method of acquiring goods.

3. Define benchmarking?

The continuous process of measuring a company's products, services, costs, and practices against those of competitors or organizations that display "best in class" achievements.

4. Define two-step procurement?

A bidding procedure usually consisting of two competitive steps. Step one consists of a technical proposal for furnishing the product or service and the second step consists of a comparison of costs. Bidding then proceeds as in conventional sealed bid procedures.

5. Which process can be used to determine a vendor's price reasonableness when lack of pricing information available?

When there is a lack of pricing information available to determine price reasonableness, a cost analysis could be performed to evaluate and verify a vendor's cost data and proposed profit.

6. Why purchasing cards are so much popular nowadays?

Purchasing cards are a purchasing tool many progressive companies use to purchase and pay for low dollar purchases. Purchasing cards reduce the cost of doing business while preserving purchasing controls.

7. Define life cycle costing?

Life cycle costing is the total cost of purchasing, operating, maintaining, supporting and disposing of a product.

8. Is it proper to use term "and/or" in agreements?

The term "and/or" should not be used in agreements. Ambiguity arises when this term is used because of the many possible variations this term can create. It is more exact to use the terms "and" and "or" separately. The term "and" means both, the term "or" means either.

9. Annual requirements contract to deliver file cabinets each month was issued. The contract did not say anything about who bears cost of uncrating and setting up cabinets in offices. The supplier has uncrated and set up cabinets first four months of contract. Now, supplier is refusing to uncrate and set up cabinets unless he can increase his price. Can I force supplier to continue to uncrate and set up cabinets in offices at same contract price?

The supplier has to uncrate and set up the cabinets at no additional cost as the supplier has shown by course of his performance during the first four months of the contract that his intention was to uncrate and set up the cabinets.

10. What is sealed bid?

The procurement process by which a bid is submitted in a sealed envelope to prevent disclosure of its contents before the deadline for the submission of all bids.