Procurement preparation
Make or buy: what to do in-house for an event
Your team could probably do some of this event itself, and you are not sure which parts are worth handing out.
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The short answer
Assess each workstream separately against four tests: does the team have the hours, does it have the skill, what is the risk if it goes wrong, and will the knowledge be needed again. A workstream passes to a supplier when the team fails two or more tests and the risk is more than it can absorb.
Cost is the fifth test, not the first. Include the cost of your own staff time using your finance team's method, not a guess. See internal labour costing.
Break the event into workstreams first
Make-or-buy applies to a workstream, not to the event as a whole. A team may run registration itself and buy audio-visual in the same project.
Take the workstreams from your brief, and keep each one to a size that one person could own.
- Programme and speaker coordination
- Registration and attendee communications
- Venue and catering liaison
- Audio-visual and staging
- Printing, signage and materials
- Finance tracking and reporting
- On-site team and volunteer coordination
The four tests
| Test | Question | Points toward in-house if | Points toward buying if |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capacity | Does the team have the hours in the weeks it is needed? | Work is spread out and predictable | Work peaks while the team has other deadlines |
| Skill | Has someone on the team done this before at this scale? | Yes, and they can be named | No one has, or the person has left |
| Risk | What happens if it goes wrong, and who bears it? | Impact is small and recoverable | Impact is visible to members or involves other parties |
| Continuity | Will the team need this knowledge next year? | Yes, and building it is valuable | One-off need, or a record is enough |
A sequence for the assessment
- List workstreams and name a possible owner for each.
- Score the four tests in plain words, with a reason a colleague could check.
- Mark the workstreams where the answer is clear and those where it is mixed.
- For mixed ones, test a split: buy the specialist part and keep the coordination.
- Put the result into the procurement strategy as the list of things to buy.
Specialist work is a different question
Some work needs a competent specialist or licensed party whatever your team's capacity, such as structural, safety, legal, privacy or accessibility matters. Treat these as buys, and ask the specialist what they need from you.
This page does not state what is required. Confirm any such requirement with the party responsible.
Pitfalls
- Treating internal staff time as free.
- Deciding on price alone and ignoring hand-over time to the supplier.
- Buying a service because it feels safer, without defining what the supplier will do.
- Keeping everything in-house because no one has asked for help. See the RFP completeness checker to define what a supplier would take on.
Worked example · Fictional example
A fictional secretariat sorts its workstreams
Fictional organisation, illustrative only.
Persatuan Fiktif Pegawai Sumber Manusia has a three-person secretariat running a one-day conference. It assesses registration, audio-visual and printing.
Registration passes all four tests: a named colleague has done it before and it repeats yearly, so it stays in-house. Audio-visual fails skill and carries visible risk, so it is bought. Printing is mixed: the team keeps artwork and proofing, and buys printing itself. The result goes to the procurement strategy as two items to buy.
Use this yourself
Make-or-buy assessment table
Copy this table and complete one row per workstream.
- Write one reason per cell that a colleague could check.
- Decide: make, buy or split, and write the split boundary.
- List who will own the workstream if made, or who will manage the supplier if bought.
| Workstream | Capacity | Skill | Risk | Continuity | Decision | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Handle it in-house, or bring in help?
Your team can usually handle this when
- Workstreams are small, repeat each year and have a known owner.
- The team has capacity in the weeks it is needed.
- The cost of an error is small and easy to put right.
Outside planning help earns its fee when
- Several workstreams peak in the same weeks and the team is stretched.
- Nobody has done a workstream at this scale or the person who did has left.
- You need the buy decision, the supplier scope and the internal hand-over written down.
Want the make-or-buy decision documented?
An Event Blueprint can take your brief, assess each workstream with your team and set out what stays in-house, what is bought and what a supplier must deliver. Send your workstream list and the team available.
Questions organisers ask
Is it always cheaper to do things in-house?
Not always. In-house work uses staff time, which has a cost even when no invoice arrives, and it may carry risk. Compare like with like using your finance team's costing method.
Can we keep coordination and buy the rest?
Yes. Many events keep coordination and decisions with the organiser and buy specialist delivery. Write down where the boundary sits and who manages each side.
When is outsourcing a mistake?
When the scope is undefined, or when no one in the team will manage the supplier. A supplier needs a clear specification and one named contact.
Related resources
Content record: Draft. Written from the cited sources and checked by automated rules; not yet independently reviewed.