Leveraging private expertise for humanitarian supply chains

In March 2004, Lynn Fritz, director general of Fritz Institute, and George Rupp, CEO of International Rescue Committee (IRC), received an enthusiastic response from the executive committee of the Board of Directors of the IRC when they reported on the successful private-public partnership between the two organisations. The private sector experts from Intel and Solectron, brought to IRC by Fritz Institute, had significantly streamlined procurement and created processes to significantly reduce response time. Their solution is expected to save the organisation $300,000 in the first year of implementation alone.