In the first step of the sourcing process the supplier receives an invitation to send qualification material:

Invitation letter

• Suppliers are invited to qualify via a pre-warning letter
• Suppliers activate all relevant departments and global resources, ensuring that they can deliver the feedback requested
• Suppliers appoint a person to act as single point of contact with A.P. Moller - Maersk

Submission of qualification material

• All suppliers (including present suppliers) submit their qualification papers
• Submittals are ranked by quantitative and qualitative parameters
• A number of suppliers are invited to participate in Step 2

Failure to submit or late submittals of the qualification papers are considered a ’decline to bid’ and this will eliminate the supplier from the process.