Should you add an environmental policy to your RFP?

Adding an Environmental Policy to your RFP:

Many large corporations add their environmental policy statement to all outgoing RFQ or RFP’s when it pertains to contractors or suppliers providing a service both on or off their job-site which in any way may impact the environment. This is a good practice and it puts the contractor or supplier on notice that they are expected to meet or exceed your own company standards when it relates to protecting the environment.

There are many reasons why companies include an environmental policy with their RFP’s.

Purchase order Terms and Conditions

Purchase Order Terms and Conditions:

If you are looking for a BASIC Terms and Conditions (TC’s) template to use with your purchase order, the following set will get you going. If you typically do not include a set of TC’s with each purchase order you fax, email or transmit to your Suppliers, at the very least you should have each Vendor sign off on your TC’s and have them agree that all future purchase orders they fulfill will be bound by such TC’s.

These days digital storage is a cheap commodity so you can have the Vendor sign off on your TC’s and store the documents by way of pdf for future reference. This will give you some  peace of mind, necessary back-up and also allows you to avoid having to transmit them with each purchase order you issue.

FOB Point

FOB Point:

Lets talk about shipping terms and where the responsibility lies for a shipment.  The correct definition for FOB Point is Free-on-Board aka freight on board and the term FOB is often misunderstood, even by the professionals.

The FOB point is important as it ascertains:

  • when legal title of the goods being shipped transfers to the buyer. Say you were purchasing a bulk liquid like a fuel or a chemical, the FOB point could be origin, destination, buyers tank or even the intake nozzle at point of delivery.  As you can see, depending on the commodity, having the proper FOB point is crucial.
  • who is responsible for handling damaged goods or freight claims with the carrier in the event they are lost or damaged during shipment. An example: FOB Destination, Freight collect means: Buyer — Pays and is responsible for freight charges, Seller — Owns goods in transit, Seller — Files any damage claims (if any). Another potential headache area so choose wisely.
  • who pays the carrier.

Many will suggest or argue that FOB destination is the most beneficial because