As always Geoff, thanks for the response. I'll have a look at the links provided later in the day.
I've been playing with the idea of adding the term to our tender offer to potential suppliers that they 'MUST supply technical training, support and parts' for the duration of the equipment life cycle of any product which we purchase going forward. They are more likely to agree with this term if it is the difference between winning or losing our tender. The hospital board of mgt seem to be in agreement with me on this as they see the cost savings from having it inhouse. I'm sick of the extortionate rates at which some OEM's/agents charge for menial tasks. If a garage asked for 350p/h to change an air filter on your car, what would you be likely to say?! I'm aware that there is some medical equipment kit which potentially justify their high rates, but for a lot of what we biomeds deal with on a day to day basis the high price is not justified.
I'll probably return to this thread in the coming months once I have everything up and running in the Biomed Dept. I'll keep you posted on how my "term" is going down during tenders as we have tenders going out in the near future.
