Procurement Risk and Contract Management L7 Assessment Brief 2025-26 | UoSM

Assessment Task details and Instructions

According to CIPS, procurement is the business management function that ensures identification, sourcing, access, and management of the external resources that an organisation needs or may need to fulfil its strategic objectives. Leading companies have recognised that strategic procurement can play a key role in driving profitable growth by re-examining their supply base and sourcing methods through collaborative relationships with external resources and productive supply markets. However, organisations must remain on guard when engaging in procurement activities, as there are several risks associated with procurement, and thus, organisations must mitigate these risks through proactive planning and a rigorous procurement process.

For an organisation of your choice, you are asked to:

1. Critically analyse whether the selected organisation's procurement structure and activities allow it to achieve procurement excellence and generate competitive advantage, and develop a set of proposals that could lead to improvements (50%).
2. Analyse the key procurement risks and opportunities faced by the organisation through the production of a risk assessment and suggest ways in which the organisation can improve its procurement activities to deal with these risks (50%).

Additional Instructions

Please follow a report format. Therefore, you should have a title page, contents page, sections and subsections, page numbers, appendix section, etc. Please note that if you are uncertain about how to present and structure a report, then visit the university library and ask for assistance.

Please do use diagrams, illustrations, tables, graphics, etc., wherever these are helpful, and remember that these do not count towards your word limit. If you do use these, please do not put them in the appendices if they are part of your discussion. Appendices are the appropriate places to put supporting material; however, remember that if the reader is satisfied with the main points of your discussion, the supporting information within the appendices may not even be reviewed.

Please try to use theory explicitly at all stages, but do not spend too much time describing a theory. While you must be explicit about the theories, models, techniques, etc. that you use, you can assume that the reader is familiar with them. What the reader requires is evidence of your ability to understand and apply the theory and learn from it to support the development of your findings and/or ideas.

You must cite all sources on which you have relied, for example, textbooks, journal articles, web pages, etc., using the APA 7th (Harvard) Style referencing system. If you do not cite all sources, then you may be accused of plagiarism, and that may endanger your success in passing the module. If you are in any doubt about how to reference your work, please obtain guidance from the library and/or your academic librarian(s) for this module. 

You will also need to take the following into account when completing your assignment:

• Quality of executive summary (does it give a brief, complete summary of your paper for an executive to read?)
• Establishment of relevant theory (e.g., what do we mean by sourcing?)
• Allocation of credit and sources used (have I included references and citations to the material I have used?)
• Clarity of argument
• Overall report presentation, including spelling and grammar
• Adherence to nominated word limit (+/- 10%)
• Word processed (letter size 12, Times New Roman, 1.5 space), fully referenced (APA 7th (Harvard) Style)

Assessment Criteria

Knowledge and Understanding

Assessed intended learning outcomes

On successful completion of this assessment, you will be able to:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of procurement for global organisations operating in complex market environments.
2. Critically evaluate and synthesize information from diverse literature to assess theories, concepts, and models in Procurement, Risk, and Contract Management.
3. Apply theoretical and practical knowledge to analyze and solve contemporary challenges in Procurement, Risk, and Contract Management.

Employability skills developed and demonstrated

You will develop a range of employability skills sought by employers through each assessment. Through this assessment will have an opportunity to develop and demonstrate the following employability skills:

I = You will have been introduced to this skill
U = You will have developed an understanding of this skill in the context of your subject
A = You will be able to apply this skill in the context of your subject
D = You will have demonstrated an enhanced understanding and application of this skill in a wider context 

Support for this Assessment

You can obtain support for this assessment by watching the video lectures, participating in the class discussions, and joining the live session(s). The sessions provide you with good opportunities to ask questions to seek clarity and direction on the subject and to address the assessment brief. You can also email the tutor.

You can find more information about understanding your assessment brief and assessment tips for success here. 

Assessment Rules and Processes

You can find information about assessment rules and processes on the University website.  

Develop your Academic and Digital Skills
 
Find resources to help you develop your skills here. 

Concerns about Studies or Progress

If you have any concerns about your studies, contact your StudentCare.

askUS Services

The University offers a range of support services for students through askUS, including Disability and Inclusion Service, Wellbeing and Counselling Services.

Other Sources of Support

Understanding your assessment brief/assessment tips for success 

Develop your academic and digital skills 

Assessment rules and processes 

Support services

Issues Affecting your Assessment

If exceptional circumstances have affected your ability to complete this assessment, you can find more information about the Exceptional Circumstances Procedure (previously Personal Mitigating Circumstances) here.  Independent advice is available from the Students’ Union Advice Centre. 

Academic Integrity and Academic Misconduct

You must learn and demonstrate good academic conduct (academic integrity). Good academic conduct includes the use of clear and correct referencing of source materials. 

Academic integrity & referencing

Referencing  

Academic misconduct is an action that may give you an unfair advantage in your academic work.  Some examples are plagiarism, asking someone else to write your assessment for you, unauthorised use of AI, or taking notes into an exam. The University takes all forms of academic misconduct seriously.  

In a year retrieval scheme

Your assessment is not eligible for in-year retrieval. If you are eligible for this scheme, you will be contacted shortly after the feedback deadline.

Reassessment Arrangements

If you fail your assessment and are eligible for reassessment, you will be notified by our administration team by email. You will be informed of the data of resubmission data. The assignment brief for reassessment remains the same as the original task. 

For students with accepted personal mitigating circumstances for absence/non-submission, this will be your replacement assessment attempt.  

We know that having to undergo a reassessment can be challenging; however, support is available.  Have a look at all the sources of support outlined earlier in this brief.

AACSB PG AOL Competencies and Traits

The purpose of this section is to help students identify the professional skills that they will have gained or developed through completing this assessment.

These are the relevant skills and attributes aligned to the AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) Assurance of Learning (AOLs).

Level 7 (PG) UoS Grade Descriptors and AACSB PG Assurance of Learning Competencies & Traits