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Our approach

Working with suppliers

As we purchase everything from aircraft and engines to fuel and passenger food, our aim is to create strong partnerships with you, and together - remove non-productive costs, create brand value and reduce the time it takes to deliver this value.

 

Policies and expectations of business partners

Cathay Pacific Group expects its business partners to adhere to the corporate governance policies and work collaboratively to achieve procurement excellence.

Cathay Policies
Supplier Code of Conduct (English), (Traditional Chinese), (Simplified Chinese)
Anti-Bribery and Corruption Policy for Business Partner (English)

Purchase Order
Standard Terms and Conditions of Purchase (English), (Traditional Chinese), (Simplified Chinese)

Source-to-pay process

From source-to-contract through to procure-to-pay, Cathay and suppliers will follow an end-to-end process to develop business relationships.

Procurement - Source-to-Pay Process Flowchart

Cathay is seeking long-term relationships with leading suppliers that would become our primary source for various procurement projects. Despite our desire to limit the number of suppliers, it is essential to examine the performance of suppliers in comparison with the competition in order to meet our ambitious cost, quality and service requirements.

The Request for Proposal (RFP) serves the purpose of, on one hand, providing a full and fair opportunity for suppliers to work with us and, on the other hand, assessing the competitiveness of the suppliers. It contains questions that we would like you to answer to help us better understand your company, your capabilities and experience and the market place for a specific sourcing opportunity. This information, will enable a continued dialogue that is factual and productive.

Suppliers, who are invited, are usually required to agree and upload a signed Non-Disclosure Agreement in our eProcurement platform Ariba before they can proceed to answer the questions contained in the RFP. All RFP related queries or concerns need to be submitted to Cathay by using the Ariba message system.

An evaluation framework CISQAS has been adopted to maintain collaborative, effective and fair supplier review process. Suppliers will be selected based on their performance throughout the procurement process according to below criteria:

  • Cost
  • Innovation
  • Satisfaction
  • Quality
  • Assurance of Supply
  • Safety & Sustainability

A contract will be awarded to the selected supplier(s) after evaluations of received RFPs using predetermined criteria. A contract draft is usually provided at the early stage of an RFP for bidding suppliers to review and comment before evaluation and final contract award. We are committed to ensuring efficiency and consistency in the management of strategic relationships through the formation of robust contracts. Sometimes contracts may be supplemented by additional agreements covering specific orders.

The selection of a supplier is a matter to be determined by Cathay at its sole discretion. Cathay may:

  1. award a Contract to a bidder that does not offer the lowest price;
  2. choose to award a Contract to more than one invitee; and / or
  3. award a Contract for different Deliverables (or parts of them) to different suppliers.

In the absence of bespoke contract, the Standard Terms and Conditions establishes a general contracting framework to govern the supply of products and / or services to Cathay by suppliers.

In general, a purchase order is raised by Cathay’s respective business unit from our procurement system (e.g. SAP) to order products and / or services from the supplier under an approved set of contract terms before the provision of such products and/ or services should commence.

A comprehensive Purchase Order should have the following information, including but not limited to order numbers, item numbers, vendor details, customer details, quantities and agreed prices.

For Purchase Order sample format, please download the following PDF:

Purchase Order Sample

A Goods Receipt or Service Acceptance Sheet within SAP system is used to confirm the delivery of goods or services provided by suppliers. Accountable business unit will process the receipts as soon as possible to avoid any delay of arranging and receiving payment for both parties.

The three-way match between Purchase Order, Goods Receipt / Service Acceptance Sheet and Invoice is to ensure all information is aligned and therefore payment can be cleared for goods and services that have been delivered. Any invoices that have a discrepancy in terms of the mismatch on price and / or quantity are required to be resolved before payment.

Cathay will always endeavor to settle payment on-time for suppliers regarding the products and / or services we purchase. It is a requirement that suppliers reference the Purchase Order number on all invoices submitted. The traditional payment terms of Cathay are 45 days from the date of invoice and the standard invoicing period is monthly in arrears based on calendar months.

  • The supplier must ensure that all invoices:
  • specify a payment amount that is correctly calculated and due for payment;
  • includes a reference to the relevant Approved contract and Purchase Order (if applicable);
  • are set out in a manner that enables Cathay to ascertain the particular Products and / or Services to which the invoice relates and the amount payable in respect of each Product and / or Service;
  • are accompanied (where necessary or where reasonably requested by Cathay) by substantiating documentation.