The RS and CIPS 2026 Indirect Procurement Report shows procurement under pressure with costs, risks, and expectations all rising. Based on new research focused on the UK & Ireland, 68 per cent of respondents cite inflation as their biggest challenge, while half face renewed supply chain risk and geopolitical disruption.
If there is one defining tension for Maintenance, Repair, and Operations (MRO), it is that organisations are being asked to deliver lower costs, higher resilience and greater strategic control in the most volatile environment in recent years. These pressures, external and internal, are rapidly shaping the role indirect procurement plays within businesses.
Unsurprisingly inflation and higher costs are the biggest challenge, cited as the single biggest concern for the year ahead by 68 per cent of respondents (up from 62 per cent last year.) This pressure is universal, leading procurement teams to find ways to absorb cost where they can - and defend margins where they cannot.
The challenge is complex. Half of respondents now point to managing risk in the supply chain, while concern about global political uncertainty has jumped sharply to 47 per cent - from 37% - in a year. This illustrates a landscape in which cost, continuity and geopolitics have fused. As Martin Wakelin, Group Head of Indirect Procurement at Valeo Foods, puts it:
The only way to stay resilient is to “treat procurement as a strategic lever, not a back-office task.”
A profession under strategic scrutiny
The combination of inflation, disruption and geopolitical exposure is elevating the internal standing of procurement. The Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) notes that:
“Tariffs, geopolitical tensions and supply chain reconfigurations are rewriting the map of global commerce.”
Procurement and supply chain professionals are on the frontline of these pressures and are being recognised as the ‘cool heads’ to navigate their organisations through this turbulence.
The re-emergence of tariffs and trade friction means organisations are actively re-engineering their sourcing strategy. Two dominant tactics for mitigating tariff impact emerged. There are 65 per cent who are reviewing their supply chain and the location of suppliers, with 57 per cent re-negotiating existing contracts. Larger organisations lean on commercial leverage, with 64 per cent planning to renegotiate terms. Around 24 per cent of smaller firms are more likely to hold more stock, and almost one in five (19%) are making moves toward near-shoring.
