Free Practice Questions for CIPS L4M3 Exam

There are a number of shortcuts that can be taken when drafting the specification. These include the following:

- The use of brand names

- The use of recognised standards

- The use of samples

- Information and knowledge from users/other buyers: Drafting a specification should naturally include those already used within the organisation itself, but also variants used by other companies in the same sector and other companies in different sectors

- Information from suppliers: suppliers will always be willing to assist in specification development, as this this one way in which they can seek to influence the design to favour their own products.

Construction procurement is particularly complex and risky. Forming a contract in construction may take lots of time and energy of both client and contractor. Therefore, standardisation inconstruction contract would help the buying organisation to save their precious resources. Furthermore, the wording of these model form contracts is accurate as it has been agreed among the professionals within an industry.

One of the advantage of using model forms of contract is the balanced of risk and reward allocation between the contractor, consultant engineer and the client.

An SLA outlines the expected performance levels and includes KPIs and consequences for non-performance (often in the form of penalties or service credits). Force majeure and jurisdiction clauses are typically part of the main contract terms, not the SLA, which is more operational in nature.

If the deliveries often delay, buyer should use KPI to measure how many missed deliveries there are and the percentage of total missed deliveries on total number of deliveries for period. OTIF (one-time in-full) delivery might help.

Consignment stock availability means that the supplier holds adequate range/number of units of stock to offer a reliable service

Delay damages are the consequences caused by delay of deliveries

Technical support is the acceptable quality of technical information/support provided by supplier for goods supplied.

LO 2, AC 2.2

Direct call off is the act of placing an order under a framework agreement without having further competition.

Standing offer is an available offer.

Blanket order is another name of framework agreement

Closed system is a requirement of framework agreement. It is a system or process that, once started, does not allow new entrants.

- The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is a treaty of the World Trade Organization (WTO) that entered into force in January 1995 as a result of the Uruguay Round negotiations. The treaty was created to extend the multilateral trading system to service sector, in the same way the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) provides such a system for merchandise trade.

- CISG is the Vienna Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. This is a voluntary treaty under United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). The purpose of the Vienna Convention is to set out a framework for international transactions based on a uniform approach. It establishes substantive rules that regulate the duties and obligations of both parties, including the delivery of goods, contract formation, and remedies for breach of contract.

- The Incoterms or International Commercial Terms are a series of pre-defined commercial terms published by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) relating to international commercial law. They are widely used in international commercial transactions or procurement processes and their use is encouraged by trade councils, courts and international lawyers. A series of three-letter trade terms related to common contractual sales practices, the Incoterms rules are intended primarily to clearly communicate the tasks, costs, and risks associated with the global or international transportation and delivery of goods. Incoterms inform sales contracts defining respective obligations, costs, and risks involved in the delivery of goods from the seller to thebuyer, but they do not themselves conclude a contract, determine the price payable, currency or credit terms, govern contract law or define where title to goods transfers.

- ADA is Anti-Dumping Agreement (Implementation of Article VI of the GATT).

LO 1, AC 1.3

This scenario illustrates the "battle of the forms," where each party attempts to impose its own terms. The general legal principle is that the last set of terms sent before performance (in this case, Company B's invoice) takes precedence if the other party proceeds without objection (Company A's payment). Therefore, Company B's terms would likely govern the contract.

The procurement team has drafted basic requirements in the specification. They will need to develop it further and more specific. Developing market dialogue with supplier is a good solution. There are number of approaches which can be taken to engage with suppliers:

- General meetings: buyer meets supplier at a networking event (such as trade show) or social media. These discussions are unlikely to deliver very specific information.

- One-to-one meetings: This will be most likely to deliver direct input into specification development and supplier-specific product development information.

- Group visits

- Meet-the-buyer events

- Formal negotiations or competitive

The answer for this QUESTION should be One-to-one meeting.

Exporting enterprises must sometimes incur additional costs as they adapt their production to the changing legal requirements of the recipient country. Such requirements can thus create technical barriers to trade. Discrepancies between product rules adopted by different countries can involve numerous aspects: weight, size, packaging, ingredients, mandatory labeling, shelf-life conditions, testing and certification procedures etc.

One way to overcome these barriers is to adopt international standards. Overseas companies may be more familiar with international standards without looking at specific regulations of importing countries.