Pre-Clinical Laboratory Services Category Procurement Intelligence Report

Business practices within Pre-Clinical Laboratory Services market are heavily influenced by changing trends across the category as well as within the broader Science and Environmental Research market. There are only a handful of \"Tier 1\" vendors in the Pre-Clinical Laboratory Services market and they have traditionally enjoyed a premium in their pricing. However, Tier 2 suppliers are giving them a tough competition now as they can provide similar services at a lower cost. Many tier 2 suppliers achieve this parity by finding right talent at a relatively lower cost and maintaining lean operations without any frills.

Proliferation of supply pool in regions such as APAC is expected to intensify supply market competition. This will compel service providers to compete on price points to attract new buyers, which is expected to offset some of the increase in procurement cost arising out of increasing supplier OPEX.

Data security and maintaining the confidentiality of client data and other sensitive information has towered over most of the discussions related to the category. Most geographies now have stringent regulations to protect data, privacy and confidentiality. Although suppliers now have a value proposition that puts data security and confidentiality at the forefront of marketing pitches, adherence to these standards have also increased OPEX of suppliers owing to increased compliance methods and requirement to change critical processes.

As a result, category managers need to closely monitor the Pre-Clinical Laboratory Services procurement trends and identify changes required in their procurement environment for the category.

Sometimes, procurement functions are unable to timely alter their practices while responding to market conditions. Industry experts acknowledge that periodically reviewing procurement best practices and adopting learnings from across procurement categories can help procurement teams respond to market needs in a more agile way. This report combines our experience of other categories with Pre-Clinical Laboratory Services procurement insights and hand picks best practices that can work for category managers delving in this market.

For example, Buyers should engage with service providers through a rate card model. Within the rate card model, Customers are provided with rate cards that contain pre-determined prices for various activities and resources required for the project. Price is fixed based on per resource hour for different job roles. This pricing model ensures that there is optimal utilization of supplier's resources.

Buyers must clearly define clauses related to ownership of subcontracting services that are not part of their preferred partners' portfolios to ensure service consistency and control of sensitive data that are shared with subcontracted firms. The roles and responsibilities of subcontractors should be clearly defined by supplier to provide visibility on the quality of main service provider vs sub-contractors.

Buyers should specify a mechanism for agreeing to and recording changes in services provided by the interacting parties, usually buyers and service providers.

Pre-Clinical Laboratory Services procurement managers also need to proactively identify and mitigate potential risks that can arise in the supply chain or contracts for Pre-Clinical Laboratory Services procurement. Some examples include: