7.

5 Pharmaceutical Suppliers
If you are not able to identify or contract with a local pharmaceutical or medical equipment
supplier, contact your Regional Supply Chain Director (RSCD) for information on
International Contracted Suppliers. Procurement of pharmaceuticals and medical equipment
requires additional steps as detailed below in order to ensure supplier quality and follow
donor regulations.

Several IRC donors require pharmaceutical suppliers to be pre-qualified following a specific

process or limit pharmaceutical and medical procurement to a list of approved suppliers. If
the anticipated pharmaceutical or medical procurement will not be with a donor-approved
supplier and there is no pre-qualification or pre-approval process prescribed by the donor,
Supply Chain should follow the below internal process to ensure the Suppliers quality
before entering an agreement. Additional reviews and approvals are required and are detailed
in the Pharma and Medical Supplier Information Form (Appendix P11) and the Pharma and
Medical Supplier Qualification Checklist (Appendix P11_2).

For questions on what processes are required by the donor, contact the Global Grants and
Contracts Unit in HQ or the Grants Unit in IRC UK. For more detailed guidelines on
pharmaceutical and medical procurement, see the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Manual
(Appendix # Pxx)

Supplier quality must be reviewed for All Suppliers before any in-country procurement
of pharmaceuticals or medical supplies. This review can either be done by selecting a
Supplier from a donor-approved list, by using a donor-required pre-qualification or pre-
approval procedure, or, if none exists, by using the Pharma and Medical Supplier
Information Form (Appendix P11) and the Pharma and Medical Supplier Qualification
Checklist (Appendix P11_2) for IRC qualification process.

The Supplier Information Form includes information regarding the Suppliers relevant
certifications, where they source their pharmaceuticals and equipment, and quality
control mechanisms. Do not modify this form. The only section of the form that should
be modified is the Regulatory/Licensing section, which should be tailored to the
regulatory requirements in each country.

The completed Supplier Qualification Checklist will provide a good idea about the
quality of the shortlisted suppliers. It should be filled out by representatives of Supply
Chain and the Health program with help from the Supplier.

A site visit is required for pharmaceutical suppliers, if geographically feasible. This is a

good opportunity to review the items on the Supplier Qualification Checklist with the
Supplier. See Section 11.3 for more information on conducting a site visit.

After the Supplier Information Form and Supplier Qualification Checklist are
completed, if the Supply Chain and Health program representatives determine the
Supplier qualified, after completion this form is sent for review by pharma procurement

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