I have been asked to buy a piece of technology. We have two major vendors supplying to different regions, which results in a lack of competition. How can I get the best deals?

Supply chain manager, Johannesburg, South Africa

Guy Allen, director of sourcing and supply services, Fujitsu Services

Your question centres on how to create a competitive environment where one would appear not to exist.

Even if there is only one possible supplier, there is always a competitor in the mix: the option of doing nothing.

As buyers we may feel we have no choice, but the salesman will not assume he has got the business until he has the purchase order in his hand. You need to play on this.

The key is controlling the information flow and getting your colleagues aligned to the same story. In the current climate companies are reducing or delaying expenditure, and not buying this year is credible.

Put the salesman in a position where he has to make a compelling offer to your company to make you act this year.

He will almost certainly be remunerated on sales for this financial year and keen to close the deal now. You may be able to include costs that he is able to give up for free. He may not get a bonus on service revenues, so try to make a purchase with three years' free service.

Craig Cherry, head of group procurement, Monarch Airlines

There are many ways to look at this.

I would ask how the buying organisation allowed it to occur in the first place, as it appears to be an extremely poor piece of supply chain management.

An astute method of stimulating a competitive edge would be to set up a value analysis/engineering team in liaison with the two suppliers and ask them to find ways of making the equipment leaner and more cost-effective.

Each supplier will feel part of the process and will open up more, making the lack of competition almost irrelevant.

The team would be asked to challenge every part and process, and the outcome should ensure the leanest model possible and, in turn, the lowest possible unit cost.

Ian Russell, chief administration officer, ABSA

Encouraging the suppliers to develop into a new region and creating enduring competition would be the ideal solution.

Assuming that your spend is material enough to interest the suppliers in another area, a successful approach that I have used in developing markets is to explicitly offer the new supplier the business for a specific job or time frame. This should give them sufficient time to support you and begin to develop a wider customer base in the new region. Your next contract can then be tendered between the two competitors in the area. Given that you have two regions, and two bidders, synchronising your approach to both should be relatively straightforward.

If your scale is not sufficient, or this is a one-off requirement, consider investigating the total cost of ownership of buying in one country and importing into another.

While maintenance arrangements might be tricky, it would show the supplier in the region that you are serious about breaking their monopoly on the market.

Karen van Vuuren, general manager, strategic supply management, Transnet

If the "tricky situation" of non-competition is an unintended consequence of a previous sourcing decision, I would revisit the reasons for the appointment of the two suppliers. Was security of supply for example the key driver for selecting two suppliers for the same commodity, although in different regions? If so, does this still hold true or not? If non-competition is just a trade off made as part of the commodity strategy, I would then study the terms and conditions of the two contracts looking out for any exclusivity clauses. Determine if the piece of technology you need is already specified or not. This will determine how much space you have to negotiate.

Assuming that the piece of technology is required in both suppliers' regions and that it is covered in both contracts (this being the most restrictive scenario), I would put together a negotiation pack and craft my approach. I would not be deterred by the possibility of non-competition.

You may find that today's uncertain economic climate has resolved your problem as we are now in a buyer's market. I would be bold and take advantage of that, by requesting both suppliers to relook at their complete contracts. In my experience suppliers are willing to redefine contractual terms in order to secure additional business in these hard economic times. I hope the suggested "business unusual" approach delivers results.

KEY POINTS

• You always have the option of not buying: use it to your advantage.

• Instruct your two companies separately and analyse the results to get the leanest model.

• Encourage your suppliers to move into a new region, then you can tender your contract to both.

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