A supply manager for DEF Inc. meets with the firm's operations team to discuss the requirements for a new piece of equipment. The team establishes the specifications, and the supply manager begins contacting suppliers. The supply manager finds that almost everything specified is outside the normal features of the equipment and will require custom modifications. These modifications will raise the cost to 2.5 times the amount budgeted. In this situation, which of the following should the supply manager do?

• A. Negotiate with the suppliers to get a price closer to the budgeted cost
• B. Purchase the equipment as specified by the operations team and quoted by the suppliers
• C. Review the specifications to ensure alignment between what is available and what is requested
• D. Source new suppliers for the equipment with better prices

A chief executive officer (CEO) asks a supply manager to prepare a statement of work for a consultant to perform audit services. The consultant occasionally does other non-audit work for the company. In this situation, which of the following is the BEST course of action for the supply manager to take?

• A. Review professional service rates for the audit services and verify they are competitive prior to executing the statement of work
• B. Prioritize execution of the statement of work, as it has likely been mandated by the board of directors
• C. Explain to the CEO the conflict of interest in contracting with an existing consultant as an auditor, and recommend alternative solutions
• D. Recommend giving a presentation to the board of directors on the category strategy for consulting and professional services

A company's major supplier of sub-assemblies provides excellent quality and reasonable costs. However, shipping delays and damage in transit make this supplier less reliable than desired. The supply manager would like to retain this supplier if possible, but is concerned about the reliability issues. Given this situation, which of the following is the BEST course of action for the supply manager to take?

• A. Negotiate lower prices to compensate for the impact of delivery problems
• B. Give the supplier a deadline by which to remedy unsatisfactory performance
• C. Increase forecasting lead times and safety stock for the supplier's products
• D. Collaborate with the supplier to improve its outbound logistics

DEF Inc. receives several batches of inferior quality products from a supplier. Although all of the samples provided by this supplier met or exceeded specifications, it is learned that the facility used to produce the samples is in a different location than the regular production facility, and that the production environment could affect quality.
DEF could have prevented this situation by doing which of the following?

• A. Requiring the supplier to provide assurance that its products will meet the required specifications
• B. Requesting larger samples from the supplier prior to going into production
• C. Placing stricter quality controls in the receiving dock to prevent defective products from being accepted into inventory
• D. Requesting and testing samples from all possible supplier manufacturing locations