Purchasing and Supply Chain
Procurement and Sourcing
Negotiation and Contracting in Procurement and Supply
Negotiating a supply agreement where the relationship continues afterwards, and writing down what was actually agreed.
- Duration
- 5 days
- Contact hours
- 30
- Level
- Intermediate
- Fee from
- On enquiry
Overview
Procurement negotiation is rarely a single transaction and is often trained as though it were. The supplier will still be there next year, the concession won today is recovered through a variation or a quiet service reduction, and the agreement is managed by somebody who was not in the room. This week covers preparation, which is where most of the outcome is decided, the conduct of the negotiation itself, and the part usually skipped: turning what was agreed into terms that still mean the same thing to both parties in eighteen months.
Who should attend
Procurement and category managers, buyers negotiating supply agreements, contract managers who inherit the result, and technical staff who join negotiations.
What you will be able to do
- Establish your own position, including the point at which you walk away.
- Read the supplier's position and their constraints before conceding anything.
- Trade variables other than price, and know what each one is worth.
- Recognise a tactic aimed at you, and respond without escalating.
- Record the agreement so it means the same thing to both parties later.
How it is taught
Short input, then work, across 5 days of roughly 6 teaching hours each. Exercises run on situations delegates bring rather than on a case study written for a different organisation. Cohorts are capped so that everybody is asked something.
Available as classroom, live online, in house.
Programme outline
Day 1
Preparation decides it
- Your position, your alternative, and your walk away point
- Researching the supplier's cost base and their constraints
- Objectives ranked, and the ones that are not negotiable
- Who is in the room, and who is actually deciding
Day 2
The variables
- Price as one variable among many
- Volume, term, payment, risk, service level and liability
- Valuing a concession before offering it
- Packages rather than a sequence of single issues
Day 3
In the room
- Opening, anchoring, and the first number
- Questions that reveal a constraint
- Recognising a tactic and responding without escalating
- Deadlock, and the ways out of it
Day 4
Closing
- Testing an agreement before shaking hands on it
- The late demand, and how to handle it
- Confirming in writing the same day
- Walking away, and leaving the relationship intact
Day 5
Into the contract
- Translating an agreed position into terms
- Service levels and remedies that will actually be used
- Change, indexation and exit
- Handing over to whoever manages the agreement
What you leave with
- A negotiation plan for one live agreement, with the walk away point established.
- A variable map showing what can be traded and what each is worth.
- A term sheet translating the agreed position into contract language.
Dates and fees
| Dates | Location | Format | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23 to 27 November 2026 | Durban, South Africa | Classroom | R15,000 |
| 30 November 2026 to 4 December 2026 | Maseru, Lesotho | Classroom | R15,000 |
| 7 to 11 December 2026 | Nicosia, Cyprus | Classroom | US$1,500 |
| 14 to 18 December 2026 | Nairobi, Kenya | Classroom | US$1,500 |
Fees are per delegate and cover tuition, all programme materials and the certificate. Travel, accommodation and visas are arranged by the delegate. Registration closes two weeks before a programme starts.
Certificate
A GATI certificate recording what was attended, issued after the programme has run and attendance has been taken. Attending at least 80 per cent of the days earns a certificate of completion; attending less earns a certificate of attendance stating exactly what was attended. Every certificate carries a code that anybody can check against GATI's own record.
It records participation. and GATI does not claim one it does not hold.