Organizations without a procurement team
Growing organizations where finance or operations handles purchasing on the side and the vendor list keeps growing.
Procurement Services
Tail Spend Management
Tail spend is the long list of small, one-off purchases that never gets a sourcing plan. LeVasseur Consultants manages it for you: one way to request purchases, approval thresholds that match the risk, a buyer of record for one-time suppliers and a monthly report on where the money went.
The Problem
What Is Tail Spend?
Tail spend is the part of your spend that sits outside contracts and preferred suppliers: suppliers you paid once or twice this year, purchases with no agreed price, rush orders, small services and software bought by one team. Each order is small. Together they add hundreds of suppliers, invoices and vendor records that someone has to set up, pay and keep current.
Most of the cost sits around the purchase. Every new supplier needs tax forms, bank details and an approval, and every invoice has to be matched and paid. In APQC benchmarking reported by CFO.com (2018), the median organization spent $5.83 to process one invoice.
Read more: What is tail spend management?, tail spend vs strategic spend and how a buyer of record works.
How We Manage It
Four Parts, Run as One Process
01
Intake and Approval Thresholds
One way to askOne simple request route for anything without a contract or catalog. We set approval thresholds by amount and risk with your budget holders, so a small tool order and a large service purchase do not go through the same steps.
02
Buyer of Record for One-Time Suppliers
Pass-through purchasingFor one-off and infrequent suppliers, LeVasseur Consultants buys in its own name, pays the supplier and sends you one itemized invoice. The supplier never enters your vendor master. How pass-through purchasing works.
03
Supplier Consolidation
Fewer suppliersWe group the tail by what was bought, not by supplier name. Categories that keep coming back move to a supplier you already use, a catalog or a contract.
04
Spend Reporting
Every monthA one-page monthly report: what was bought, from whom, for which team, through which route, and which categories should move to a contract.
Who It Fits
Who This Is For
R&D, engineering and lab teams
Teams that need parts, supplies or services from suppliers who are not set up yet, and cannot wait weeks for a vendor setup.
Accounts payable
Teams processing many small invoices from suppliers used once or twice a year.
A vendor master that needs cleaning
If duplicates and one-time suppliers are already piling up, start with supplier rationalization and vendor master cleanup.
Engagement Options
Choose How Much We Run
01
Tail Spend Review
One-timeWe go through 12 months of payments and card data. You get the tail sorted by category, the list of one-time suppliers and a plan for each group.
02
Set Up and Hand Over
Your team runs itWe design the request route, thresholds and reporting, set them up in the tools you already use and train your team to run them.
03
Managed Tail Spend
We run itWe handle requests, quotes and orders, act as buyer of record for one-time suppliers and send the monthly report.
Each engagement is quoted per project. Buyer-of-record orders carry a per-order fee that covers issuing the purchase order.
Common Questions
Tail Spend Management: Questions We Hear
What is tail spend management?
It is how you handle the many small, infrequent purchases that sit outside your contracts: who can ask for them, who approves them, which supplier is used and how they are reported. The aim is fewer one-time suppliers, faster purchases for the people asking and a clear record of where the money went.
What approval thresholds should we use for tail spend?
There is no standard number. We set thresholds with your budget holders based on amount and risk: small, low-risk items get one approval or a purchasing card, while larger or riskier purchases add a quote and a second approval. The thresholds are written down and applied the same way every time.
How is this different from pass-through purchasing?
Pass-through purchasing is one part of it: LeVasseur Consultants acts as buyer of record for one-off suppliers. Tail spend management also covers the request route, the thresholds, moving repeat purchases to suppliers you already use and the monthly report.
Do we need new software?
No. The request form, approvals and reports run in the tools you already use.
How do you charge?
Each engagement is quoted per project. Buyer-of-record orders carry a per-order fee that covers issuing the purchase order. Delivery management and expediting are separate services if you want them.
Get Started
Get Your Tail Spend Under Control
Tell us what you buy and roughly how many suppliers you used only once last year. We will tell you where to start.