ASSESSMENT OF ORDERING PRACTICES AT BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH CENTER (BRC)- METABOLIC RESEARCH LABORATORY (MRL)

Abstract

Background: Assessment of the purchasing and ordering process in the Metabolic Research Laboratory (MRL) at the Biomedical Research Center (BRC) at Qatar University (QU) is a critical component of the quality management system (QMS). Aims and objectives: Assess and compare the contribution of price, delivery period, and items' handling parameters on choosing the ordering method by BRC staff. Methods: A quantitative descriptive study was conducted on 201 collected items from 2018-2020. The project was divided into two phases. In phase I, data was categorized and investigated while in phase II, data was analyzed based on three parameters: price, delivery time, and item's handling. Results: Prices of local suppliers were higher than online suppliers and original manufacturer prices. Amazon and Sedeer showed high percentages of on-time delivered items. In addition, all the companies showed good handling except for some orders from online suppliers. Recommendations: some recommendations and suggestions were illustrated to improve the purchasing and ordering process in BRC, such as creating a standard operating procedure (SOP) to follow during the purchasing process, assign finance personnel responsible for ordering processes, and create an excel sheet that contains detailed information about the received items for tracking purposes