Funded by the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through USAID, SCMS is managed by the Partnership for Supply Chain Management (PfSCM), a non-profit entity, comprised of 13 private sector, non-governmental and faith-based organizations. With offices in 17 countries and more than 400 dedicated staff globally, SCMS is working to improve the lives of people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS through procuring essential medicines and supplies at affordable prices; strengthening and building reliable, secure and sustainable supply chain systems; and fostering coordination of key stakeholders.
The SCMS approach includes:
- Working with and strengthening existing systems, not creating parallel or duplicate systems;
- Building local capacity and empowering in-country partners to develop sustainable responses for their own communities;
- Delivering quality HIV/AIDS medicines and supplies at the best value by leveraging industry best practices for planning, procurement, storage and distribution;
- Promoting transparency to ensure that accurate, timely supply chain information is collected, shared and used to improve decision-making processes; and
- Collaborating with in-country and international partners to identify needs, fill gaps, avoid duplication and share best practices.
More specifically, the role of Crown Agents USA within the project is:
- Serve as the procurement services agent (PSA) for all non-pharmaceutical commodities (e.g., HIV test kits, laboratory commodities, vehicles), including establishing long-term relationships with vendors and negotiating IQC contracts;
- Manage and lead technical assistance efforts in two SCMS field offices (Botswana and Rwanda); and
- Provide short-term and long-term management support and technical assistance to PEPFAR countries.
Achievements of the project to date include:
- Products delivered through the SCMS supply chain now support more than 1 million patients on antiretroviral treatment (ART).
- Delivery of more than $554 million of commodities.
- More than 95% of antiretroviral medicines (ARVs) procured by SCMS are generic, saving clients more than $400 million compared to the cost of branded medicines. The cost of treating a patient for one year is not roughly $100 to $200, depending on the treatment regime.
- SCMS is now a major provider of supply chain systems strengthening technical assistance in the 15 PEPFAR focus countries as well as Zimbabwe; SCMS has also provided short-term technical assistance in areas including warehousing and distribution, management information systems, quantification, and laboratory logistics.
- The virtual elimination of stock-outs of antiretroviral medicines (ARVs) and rapid test kits for clients who procure these commodities regularly through SCMS.
- Savings of more than $32 million in freight costs to date by shifting deliveries for clients who plan ahead from air freight to sea and road freight.
- SCMS has virtually eliminated stock out of ARVs and other commodities in the countries where we work. In addition, our rate of product expiry is about 1%, compared to a developed country industry standard of 4% to 7%.
In the coming years, the focus will continue to be creating sustainable, effective supply chain systems to ensure the availability of needed HIV/AIDS commodities globally.
To learn more about SCMS, please follow the link in the resources section below.