Can procurement auctions help fight against greenwashing?

🔥👀 In recent years, greenwashing has received considerable attention in the field of sustainability and responsible sourcing. Greenwashing is the deception of presenting a company, product, or activity as more environmentally friendly than it is. It often involves misleading marketing or communication that exaggerates the environmental benefits of a product or service, leading consumers or stakeholders to make decisions based on false or incomplete information.

In the context of procurement, the use of greenwashing can be particularly problematic. Companies may claim to prioritize sustainability in their supply chain practices, but in practice, their procurement activities may not be in line with their stated commitments. This can have serious consequences not only for the environment but also for a company’s reputation and profits.

To avoid greenwashing in procurement activities, it is important to pay attention to several key aspects and implement robust processes to ensure transparency and accountability. In this story, we highlight three important aspects that should be taken into account and discuss how procurement auctions can play an important role in this work.

⭐ 1. Transparency and Traceability: Transparency and traceability are key aspects of responsible procurement. The entire supply chain must be visible, from the sourcing of raw materials to the delivery of the final product. This includes understanding the environmental impact of each stage of the supply chain and ensuring that suppliers follow sustainable practices.

Procurement auctions can contribute to transparency by providing a range of criteria, including sustainability indicators. Through auctions, buyers can specify their sustainability requirements, such as using environmentally friendly materials or compliance with specific environmental standards.

⭐ 2. Verification and Certification: Verification and certification play an important role in ensuring that suppliers meet the sustainability standards set by buyers. This includes assessing suppliers’ compliance with environmental regulations, certifications, and industry standards for responsible sourcing.

Procurement auctions can integrate verification and certification processes into their auctions by requiring suppliers to provide documentation or proof of compliance with relevant standards. This ensures that only suppliers with verified sustainable practices are eligible to compete, reducing the risk of greenwashing.

⭐ 3. Performance Monitoring and Reporting: Ongoing monitoring and reporting of supplier performance is essential to detect and address greenwashing in procurement. This includes tracking key sustainability performance indicators such as carbon emissions, waste generation, and energy consumption, and holding suppliers accountable to pre-defined targets.

Procurement auctions can set performance target requirements for suppliers, and they are required to report regularly on their progress toward these targets after winning the bidding. 

Summary: In conclusion, avoiding greenwashing in procurement requires a multi-faceted approach that includes transparency, verification, performance monitoring, stakeholder engagement, and ethical considerations. Procurement auctions can be a valuable tool to achieve this goal, as they offer a transparent and competitive market where sustainability criteria are integrated into the procurement process. 

Keywords: #sourcing #supplychain #procurement #greenwashing #sustainability

Written by Gert 

Last time edited: 25.02.2024

Controlling the costs & expenses

One of the only ways to make money in the business world is to keep control of the costs and expenses after successful sales assuming that pre-sales quotation calculation is properly done. It is exaggerated, but a valid point is existing here. The profit margin is correlated with controlling the cost and expenses, which means better control for expenditures the higher profit margin received or vice-versa. Yes, everywhere are exemptions, but we don’t focus on them today. Let’s see first, what is the cost and expenses and then how to control them.

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  • Cost is the money needed to buy, do, or make something. It can also be defined as the expenditure required to create and sell products & services or acquire assets.
  • Expense is the reduction in the value of an asset as it is used to generate revenue. It can also be defined as an expense is the cost of operations that a company incurs to generate revenue. Keep in mind that the cost of goods sold (COGS) is also an expense in meaning and nature. 

The key difference between Cost and Expense is that cost refers to the amount spent by the business organization to acquire an asset or to create the assets. In contrast, expense refers to the amount spent by the business organization for the ongoing operations of the business to ensure revenue generation.

CostExpense
Do not reflect company profitabilityImpact company profitability
Asset purchasingNeeded to generate revenue
One time purchasingPeriodically purchasing
No affection for taxTax is deductible when you generate revenue
Impacting the balance sheetImpacting the income statement
Examples: fixed assets, prepaid expenses, inventory, etc.Examples: deprecation, raw material expenses, rent, licenses, etc

The difference between cost and expense table source

So anyway the costs and expenses are expenditures that you will spend or give away money or assets to get something back such as products, services, rights, etc. 

Let’s see how we can control the expenditures. Luckily there are some approaches and methods to make them and let me highlight some of them. I bring out five options but many more methods that can be implemented if expenditures need to be controlled or reduced.

  1. 👉The first and simple method is nothing to spend, but then you cannot run your business in the long term, because offering the services or physical products is more or less needed for some expenditures as well. Yes, sometimes is possible to freeze some operations until the business clime or macro-environment improves, but this is a short-term period and not last forever. Otherwise, in the long run, you may lose your existing market share and customers to the competitors.

2. 👉 In good times businesses will not make strict and clear assessments or distinguish the expenditures, what is needed, and what is nice to have. It is essentially important to get rid of the nice-to-have expenditures immediately if the business environment worsens or the company is losing some key customers and sales. The nice-to-have sample expenditures can be different duplicated software or IT platform usage licenses, actual building rent needs, traveling and/or lodging needs, office coffee machine rent, personal periodical educational training, team events, etc.

3. 👉 Value chain processes and manpower needs should be over-checked from time to time, there is more or less some waste existing even in the best-managed global companies. One of the easiest and quickest steps is to look over MRP (Material Requirement Planning) or ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) inventory and material reorder points together min/max levels to make fewer expenditures for some periods. By the way, it helps to unlock some money under inventory value as well.

4. 👉 Existing company structure and roles should be assessed critically periodically, is there anything that can be replaced with outsourced services, which can be used short period instead of keeping someone occupied full time? The hired team motivating and leading will require time and effort with hidden indirect costs, which usually managers can’t see or pay attention to. The keyword is focus and if it is most of the time for managing the personnel then we can talk about indirect costs which can outweigh the hired team’s total salary costs and performance outcomes (starting with the lost business opportunities, slow or strange business process changes, bureaucracy creates more bureaucracy, etc). The good news is that you can always outsource all kinds of administration roles such as IT/IS experts, Accounting, Legal, HR, Project management, Assemblers, Marketing professionals, Engineers, HSE experts, and Security just name it. By the way, sometimes is reasonable to outsource extra hands for business peaks times instead of hiring. 

5. 👉 Focusing on products and services COGS, then there are more or less infinite options on how to reduce expenses and costs. Here are some samples such as checking the alternative suppliers on the market, changing the final product or service design, changing components inside BoMs (Bill of Materials), and looking at the existing manufacturing methods, tools, or team needs. Einstein said that if you make every day the same way something then don’t expect to get a changed or different result tomorrow. 

I know that the most critical part is changing the team, but it is vital to do so instead of wasting time and money on training them and hoping that tomorrow everything will be fine. We have good samples from the start-up world, to get something done fast and better growth after changing the team partially or fully. Those businesses that understand that teams need to be replaced fast have been tomorrow’s winners. There is nothing strange if a start-up company changes its own team 2-3 times in one year with or without the pivots. It can be used in old school (conventional) businesses as well and not sitting in the comfort zone 24/7. So, here is something to think about more deeply and carefully.

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Our procurement auction platform BzCall.com can lend a helping hand to control and reduce the expenditures. You can make a procurement auction for outsourced services such as Marketing services, Accounting, IT/IS services or experts, HSE services, Assemblers for production, cleaning services, any other third-party auditing services, etc. Always bring to compete each other at least two vendors or experts (remember that more is better here) and one more tip here, play for hour rate, not the entire project or task value, which helps to lower the service fee. We like it if it is a win-win for every stakeholder end of the day.

Written by Gert 

Last time edited: 10.09.2023

We are open!

Tallinn – 22 September 2023

We are happy to finally announce that our procurement auction web application prototype BzCall.com is ready for use. It is a fully functioning platform, where is possible to reduce costs and expenses via the reverse auction method. Please see a short overview of how it works. A properly prepared procurement auction can reduce costs and expenses by 10-30% or even more. There are no limits on which expenditures can be trimmed or no limits for industries. The service pricing is reasonable, with no hidden fees,  clear, and straightforward. 

Main value propositions using the service

  • Reduction of costs and expenses
  • Sourcers will save working time for other tasks
  • Fair and transparent competition
  • Fewer nepotism appearances
  • Reduction of lead times

Keywords: #sourcing #supplychain #smallbusiness #procurementprofessionals #Construction #Machining #CNC #sourcingandprocurement #procurement #procurementleaders #supplychainmanagement #savings #costcutting

BzCall Technology OÜ 

Last time edited: 22.09.2023

How to set up a procurement auction?

The user guide gives a short and quick overview of how easy is to set up a new procurement auction. It does not take more time than 3-4 minutes (the same time as writing one proper RFQ email), but some can do it faster and some slower, which is okay and real practice reduces that time as well. A few minutes of work can save for some 50€ and another one +100k€ depending on the procurement auction scope, details, and nature. Please also watch the demo clip on YouTube.

Here are highlighted 24 fields, that should be paid attention to making a good procurement auction, which should bring delighted results as saved money and time. 

A procurement auction can be done only after registering an account as a natural or legal person. Same story if someone wants to see the open procurement auctions and participate in bidding.


  1. Before making a new procurement auction, please select the correct role such as a natural or legal person.
  1. The new procurement auction tab can be found in the right top corner.
  1. After clicking the new procurement auction button it opens a new sheet with the status bar “Step 1” which has to fill in the described fields below.
  • Selecting proper category
  • Adding quantity
  • Selecting or defining proper units
  1. Clicking the Save and Continue button will take you to the sheet status bar “Step 2” which has to fill in the described fields below.
  • Adding auction start date and time
  • Selecting procurement auction duration and extended end parameters
  • Selecting auction priority as time vs. cost
  • Write a proper relevant auction name 
  • Add auction description and here is the principle more is better. You can also follow left side checklist points if something can be missed.
  • Upload documents if needed such as technical documents, files, pictures, sketches, etc. The suggested file format is *.zip but it can be used in widely used document formats also like samples can be seen
  1. Clicking the Save and Continue button will take you to the sheet status bar “Step 3” which has to fill in the described fields below.
  • Select the proper delivery method
  • Confirm or change the shipment delivery address
  1. Clicking the Save and Continue button will take you to the sheet status bar “Step 4” which has to fill in the described fields below.
  • Confirm or change the billing address
  1. Clicking the Save and Continue button will take you to the sheet status bar “Step 5” which has to fill in the described fields below.
  • Select the anonymity parameters
  • Invite at least two vendors, Here is the principle More is better
  • Confirm that you know invited friends or vendors
  • You can add your budget number to see later the outcome, but it is not mandatory here and leave it as zero
  • Make the final check for the right side column “Procurement Auction summary” and adjust what is needed
  1. In case all is perfect then clicking the Finish button will activate the procurement auction and invitation emails will be sent out according to the auction start date and time. Here can be wished good luck!

Written by Gert 

Last time edited: 28.07.2023

Discover BzCall.com: The Future of Easy-to-Use Procurement Auction Site

As a sourcing manager with years of experience, I’ve always sought an easy-to-use procurement auction site or similar tools (e-auctions or e-procurement sites) to streamline my day-to-day work. The need for such a tool became clear through my various projects. When I couldn’t find a solution on the market, I decided to create one myself, hoping it would help others as well. And so, BzCall.com was born. The main goal? To save on expenditures and free up valuable working time.

Introducing BzCall

  • What is BzCall? The name combines “Business” (abbreviated as Bz) and “Call,” reflecting its purpose: inviting businesses (vendors) to bid on specific jobs. Simple, right?
  • Why Choose BzCall? In today’s competitive business landscape, controlling costs and expenses is crucial—not just for maximizing profits, but for survival. Over the past two decades, I’ve witnessed the ups and downs of the market. You probably have too. Maintaining market share and gaining a competitive edge is essential, especially as product and service life cycles shorten. Complacency is risky; market forces are relentless and can quickly outpace companies that fail to innovate. BzCall.com offers a way to step out of that comfort zone and make procurement auctions by reducing costs by 10-30% (or more with thorough preparation).

Key Benefits of BzCall

  1. Cost Reduction: Significantly cut down expenses.
  2. Reduced Lead Time: Speed up procurement processes.
  3. Vendor Improvement: Encourage vendors to elevate their performance.
  4. Fair Competition: Ensure a transparent and equitable bidding process.
  5. Minimized Nepotism: Reduce favoritism in vendor selection.
  6. Expanded Supplier Pool: Access a broader range of vendors.
  7. Time Savings: Allow sourcing managers to focus on other essential tasks.
  8. Confidence in Deals: Be assured of securing the best market deals.

Who Benefits from BzCall?

  • Sourcing Managers
  • Procurement Managers
  • Buyers
  • Supply Chain Managers
  • Project Managers
  • Small Business Managers and Owners
  • Cost Estimators
  • Technical Engineers
  • NPI Team Members

Summary

BzCall offers an efficient and effective solution to reduce expenditures and save time in procurement processes. Whether you’re a sourcing manager, procurement manager, or small business owner, BzCall is designed to help you thrive in a competitive market.

Discover how BzCall can revolutionize your procurement processes today!

Written by Gert

Last time edited: 11.07.2024

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