Road-Construction Materials Market Procurement Intelligence Report

The market for Construction Supplies and its sub-segments such as Road-Construction Materials are at an interesting intersection. Construction activities and manufacturing of construction supplies are known to be a large source of emissions across the world. Regulatory and social pressures to keep emissions in check have transformed the way construction industry operates. Sustainable practices have penetrated the traditional business processes. There is an increasing demand for green buildings, low carbon concretes and other low emission construction aggregates and renewable energy solutions. All these factors are contributing to a significant change in the procurement standards and practices within the category.

Periods of macroeconomic uncertainty and increasing stringency of immigration laws are key contributors to the workforce shortage in the market. Domestic workers in developed countries often choose to pursue higher education and less cyclical employment opportunities while foreign workers return to their home countries due to tough immigration laws and economic conditions. Consequently, suppliers have had to increase labor wages to attract skilled and unskilled labor, which has increased their costs and forced them to increase their pricing.

Fluctuation in prices of construction materials has made it difficult for project contractors to maintain a steady cost projection on construction projects. Also, the risks associated with project cost overruns are contributing to project delays and abandonment. Procurement functions are more careful while drawing up supplier contracts and insulating their projects from price uncertainties to the extent possible on negotiation tables.

Trends like these and many others discussed in this report are necessitating a relook at the way Road-Construction Materials is procured and the procurement cost saving opportunities that exist.

The report discusses in detail the best practices that have served well the category managers responsible for Road-Construction Materials procurement.

For example, Establishing strategic partnerships with suppliers allow category managers to enhance management and planning vision. By adopting a strategic engagement approach, buyers can optimize their category spend by streamlining the category management process. For instance, a risk/reward-sharing approach for construction management providers helps buyers to transfer ownership of projects to service providers.

Large firms should prefer to engage in long-term contracts with a preferred set of suppliers that can provide integrated solutions for all scales of projects (small, mid-sized, or large). Partnerships with preferred service providers lead to category-level innovations and enable buyers to avail customized services.

Buyers must have a clear understanding of the sub-contracting policies of suppliers. Suppliers must be evaluated on factors such as price, quality, and regulatory compliance of their subcontractors before they are selected.

Road-Construction Materials procurement managers also need to proactively identify and mitigate potential risks that can arise in the supply chain or contracts for Road-Construction Materials procurement. Some examples include: