Yemen Telecom Vendor Restart: Procurement Integrity Without Long‑Term Lock‑In

Part 4 of a Bridge Connect mini-series on post-conflict telecoms (spotlight on Yemen)

Why procurement is a strategic risk (not an admin function)

In post-crisis telecom environments, procurement becomes the bottleneck—and also the biggest source of irreversible mistakes.

Separately, Yemen telecom analyses highlight structural constraints and uncertainties that increase operational risk and complicate investment and planning. In that environment, procurement needs to deliver speed with discipline.

Executive summary

In the first 60–90 days, your procurement system must achieve three outcomes:

1. Continuity: keep the network running (spares, fuel, tools, critical services)

2. Integrity: prevent leakage, informal spend, and uncontrolled vendor power

3. Optionality: avoid long-term architecture lock-in while moving quickly

Step 1: Split procurement into two lanes (Emergency vs Strategic)

Most failures come from using one process for everything.

Lane A — Emergency Continuity (0–90 days)

• Critical spares (top-20 list tied to MVN)

• Power components (batteries, rectifiers, controllers)

• Field equipment and tools

• Temporary capacity solutions (where appropriate)

Lane B — Strategic Modernization (90+ days)

• Core upgrades, major transport builds, OSS/BSS modernization

• Multi-year managed services or outsourcing decisions

• Large-scale vendor framework agreements

Emergency lane should be fast but audited. Strategic lane should be competitive and architecture-driven.

Step 2: Define “architecture guardrails” before major purchases

To avoid regret spending:

• standardize on interoperable interfaces where possible,

• avoid single-vendor dependency for critical layers,

• require security baselines and patch management commitments.

This is especially important around core, OSS/BSS, and monitoring platforms.

Step 3: Use framework contracts (so you can execute fast repeatedly)

Frameworks allow repeated purchases without repeated tender cycles.

What to include in frameworks

• price schedules (transparent unit rates)

• delivery lead-time SLAs

• warranty and RMA processes

• training commitments

• spares availability requirements

• acceptance testing criteria

Step 4: Contract guardrails that protect the operator

Recovery phases create pressure to accept vendor-friendly terms. Resist that.

Minimum contract protections

• Clear acceptance criteria + staged payments

• Performance SLAs + service credits

• Cybersecurity requirements (patch cadence, vulnerability disclosure)

• IP/data clauses (especially for OSS/BSS)

• Termination for cause + transition support

• Documentation + training deliverables (so knowledge remains local)

Step 5: Governance that’s light—but real

You do not need layers of committees. You need clear decision rights.

Recommended governance

• A weekly procurement council (CFO + CTO + procurement lead)

• Pre-defined approval thresholds

• A single pipeline view: requests → approvals → POs → delivery → acceptance

• Exception reporting (who bypassed process, why)

Procurement KPIs

• Lead time for MVN-critical spares

• % emergency spend with proper documentation

• Cost variance vs framework rates

• Spares stockout frequency (Top‑20 list)

• Vendor delivery performance (on-time, in-full)

• Acceptance failure rate (quality issues)

ملخص تنفيذي (Arabic synopsis)

• افصلوا المشتريات إلى مسارين: استمرارية عاجلة وتحديث استراتيجي.

• ضعوا “ضوابط معمارية” قبل مشتريات كبيرة لتجنب الارتهان لمورّد واحد.

• استخدموا عقود إطار لتكرار الشراء بسرعة وبشفافية.

• ثبّتوا شروط حماية أساسية: قبول مرحلي، ضمانات، أمن سيبراني، وتدريب.

• تابعوا مؤشرات واضحة: زمن التوريد، نفاد المخزون، وأداء المورد.