SCMS Quarterly Report: January–March Y4Q2

(SCMS) is a collaborative effort between various organizations to improve supply chain management for HIV/AIDS commodities in Africa. By the end of the second quarter of year 4 (Y4Q2), SCMS had made significant progress in several countries, including Ethiopia, Nigeria, Mozambique, Kenya, and Namibia, in terms of field-managed procurement. The organization continued to make progress in the procurement and distribution of new commodities, including ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) in Ethiopia, Haiti, and Tanzania. SCMS also made significant progress in strengthening warehouse management in 12 countries, including Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Guyana, Haiti, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Vietnam. The organization provided technical assistance to improve the performance of logistics management information systems and inventory control systems in several countries, including Tanzania, Guyana, South Africa, Ethiopia, Côte d'Ivoire, and Uganda. In addition, SCMS continued to build in-country capacity by conducting training and skill-building consultations in various supply chain areas in Nigeria, Zambia, Côte d'Ivoire, Haiti, and Guyana. The organization conducted quantification and forecasting activities in several countries, including Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Mozambique, Uganda, Vietnam, and Namibia, and completed long-term forecasts (5 years) in Botswana, Tanzania, and Guyana. SCMS identified and supported commodity security strategies in Côte d'Ivoire, Zambia, and Rwanda. The organization's field offices continued to grow in response to in-country demands, with the largest office in Ethiopia now having 70 staff throughout the country. SCMS also began to decentralize its program, empowering country directors to fully manage their technical assistance and procurement programs. The SCMS Program Management Office (PMO) established fully functioning offices in 16 countries and shipped more than $39.8 million of commodities in the quarter to clients. The organization completed 517 deliveries to customers in the quarter and saved $5.2 million by using sea and overland freight rather than air freight for major shipments of appropriate products. SCMS purchased 52% of the value of ARVs under Indefinite Quantity Contracts (IQCs), of which 92% were generic ARVs. The organization also shipped 18% of ARV deliveries from an SCMS regional distribution center (RDC) (excluding Guyana, Haiti, and Vietnam) with an average on-time delivery of 94%. SCMS purchased $10.34 million of laboratory commodities and $3.18 million of rapid test kits. The organization undertook 41 technical assistance assignments during the quarter. Following the end of the "Red Zone" over Christmas and the New Year, deliveries and other global supply chain activities rapidly returned to the levels seen in the previous quarter. SCMS supply chain activities have now been steady at between $12 and $16 million in deliveries per month for the last six months. The mix of products varies month by month, although SCMS continues to see an increase in the total value of laboratory commodities. On-time delivery from SCMS RDCs is now consistently over 90%. SCMS completed the research project on the requirements to purchase food-by-prescription (FBP) products during the quarter and presented it to USAID. The outcome of this effort is a comprehensive procurement and supply chain guidance document for field offices and buying staff. The document details the special requirements of purchasing these products to prepare the project for orders expected during 2009. In Botswana, SCMS continued efforts to ramp up activities to manage supply chain performance. The organization sponsored two senior Ministry of Health (MOH)/Central Medical Stores (CMS) staff for training in monitoring and evaluation (M&E). SCMS worked with the trained staff to develop a national M&E plan for ART-related procurement and supply management, addressing the challenge resulting from the lack of quantified data on the performance of the national ARV supply chain system. In Côte d'Ivoire, the MACS warehouse management system became operational at the Pharmacie de la Sante Publique (PSP), and the use of the system informed a revised stock placement plan. SCMS warehousing and MACS short-term technical assistance (STTA) providers reinforced the capacity to address commodity security issues by training PSP staff on first-expiry first-out (FEFO) practices, which are supported by the World Health Organization (WHO).