How lifecycle procurement drives predictability and control in a changing global health landscape
Traditional procurement models often treat products and services as separate components. Instruments may be purchased independently from reagents. Maintenance contracts may span multiple agreements. Logistics, connectivity, software licensing, training, and technical support can operate across separate timelines and stakeholders.
Lifecycle procurement approaches aim to simplify this complexity by bringing multiple operational components together into a more coordinated framework. These approaches can take different forms, including all-inclusive pricing agreements, Service Level Agreements (SLAs), framework agreements, and other contracting structures that align equipment, consumables, maintenance, logistics, connectivity, and support under a more integrated delivery model.
The building blocks of lifecycle procurement
Depending on the program design, lifecycle procurement approaches, and portfolio management, may incorporate a range of operational, contractual, and service elements, including:
- Forecasting and demand planning
- Supplier accountability mechanisms
- Framework agreements or all-inclusive pricing structures
- Reagents and consumables
- Integrating new tests and facilitating stock transitions
- Instrument placement, upgrades, and removal
- Preventative maintenance and servicing
- Training and technical support
- Connectivity and data reporting
- Data-sharing and reporting requirements
- Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
- Ongoing operational support
- Freight and logistics
Rather than focusing solely on the price of an instrument or a single test, the conversation shifts toward understanding the total cost of ownership, including the products, services, and operational support required to sustain diagnostic access over time.
Understanding the total cost of ownership
While all-inclusive pricing (AIP) and other lifecycle procurement models can offer important advantages, they are not universally the best solution for every program. Selecting the most appropriate procurement approach requires understanding the full lifetime cost of operating a diagnostic platform, including reagent and consumable costs, maintenance requirements, connectivity, service support, and anticipated testing volumes.
In some cases, no-cost instrument placement arrangements included within AIP models can reduce upfront capital investment and simplify implementation. However, the long-term costs associated with reagents, consumables, servicing, and support must also be considered when evaluating overall value. In other situations, alternative procurement models may offer better long-term affordability or flexibility.
Careful assessment of total cost of ownership and long-term sustainability is therefore essential, particularly as countries prepare for eventual donor transition and increasing domestic financing responsibilities.
Why this matters for countries
For country programs, one of the greatest advantages of lifecycle procurement approaches is the predictability that helps limit risks in already resource-constrained settings.
Managing multiple contracts, suppliers, pricing structures, and operational dependencies can place significant strain on already stretched health systems. More coordinated procurement approaches can help reduce this burden by simplifying supplier management, strengthening accountability, and improving visibility across the diagnostic value chain. This allows health programs to focus less on managing complexity and more on delivering reliable diagnostic services to patients.
This becomes particularly important as countries expand access to decentralized[1] and near point-of-care diagnostics, where uptime, maintenance responsiveness, connectivity, and uninterrupted consumable supply become critical to sustained program performance.
Lifecycle procurement approaches can also help reduce operational gaps that are sometimes overlooked during procurement planning, including:
- Equipment downtime
- Delayed maintenance
- Fragmented technical support
- Complex freight coordination
- Emergency consumable replenishment
- Unclear accountability between manufacturers and service providers
Creating clearer accountability structures and more predictable operational frameworks, countries may be better positioned to manage diagnostic networks over the long term.
These benefits can extend beyond countries themselves, helping suppliers plan more effectively, while providing donors and funding partners with greater visibility into program costs, implementation performance, and long-term sustainability.
Why it matters for patients
Ultimately, the value of any diagnostic program is measured by whether patients can reliably access testing when and where they need it.
Patients are often the first to experience the consequences of fragmented systems:
- Stockouts interrupt testing services
- Equipment failures delay diagnosis
- Long maintenance lead times reduce access
- Connectivity gaps slow reporting and surveillance
- Supply inconsistencies create delays in care pathways
Lifecycle procurement and support models aim to strengthen continuity across these operational areas by aligning products, services, logistics, and support structures more closely together.
For patients, this can contribute to more reliable access to diagnostics, stronger continuity of care, and more resilient health systems overall.
A broader shift in global health supply chains
The growing interest in lifecycle procurement approaches reflects a broader evolution taking place across global health systems. Diagnostics are becoming more technologically advanced and increasingly connected to wider health systems, while procurement approaches are also progressing beyond standalone product purchasing toward lifecycle-oriented solutions designed around continuity, resilience, and long-term system performance.
Owing to this transformation, countries are reassessing how their procurement is structured and managed, and are increasingly enlisting trusted procurement and supply chain partners to help navigate the complex operational and implementation requirements associated with advanced and decentralized diagnostic rollouts.
Through its decades-long work supporting diagnostic programs across multiple countries and technologies, the Partnership for Supply Chain Management (PFSCM) has observed this evolution firsthand and has increasingly supported procurement and supply chain approaches that consider equipment, consumables, maintenance, connectivity, forecasting, and long-term operational support together.
The continued adoption of lifecycle procurement requires strong partnerships, accurate forecasting, coordinated planning, and shared accountability across the value chain.
But as countries continue expanding access to diagnostics, lifecycle procurement approaches are expected to play an increasingly important role in helping simplify implementation, strengthen operational sustainability, and support more reliable access to care.
PFSCM understands the complexity of modern diagnostic procurement models and can support partners across sourcing, contracting, supplier coordination, logistics, forecasting, and long-term implementation support.
Different programs may require different approaches, ranging from pooled procurement and framework agreements to hybrid models that balance centralized coordination with local ownership. There is increasing recognition that no single procurement model is appropriate for every context, and countries may adopt different approaches depending on program maturity, funding arrangements, market conditions, and operational requirements.
Regardless of the model selected, the underlying objective remains the same: ensuring that diagnostic technologies are supported by the products, services, systems, and partnerships required to deliver reliable access to care over the long term.
References cited in this article
PFSCM's experience supporting lifecycle procurement
Over two decades, PFSCM has supported clients across a wide range of procurement and supply chain approaches. Through strategic sourcing, supplier engagement, contracting, and supply chain management, PFSCM has established and managed framework agreements, long-term supply arrangements, Service Level Agreements (SLAs), and all-inclusive pricing agreements.
Working with more than 300 international and regional suppliers, PFSCM helps clients identify procurement and supply chain solutions that align with their operational needs, funding environments, market conditions, and health system priorities.
