Basics of Procurement
Basics of Procurement Procurement refers to obtaining goods and services from outside companies. This specifically refers to vendors and suppliers. It does not refer to other internal organizations within your own company. (For the purposes of this discussion, "purchasing" and "procurement" are equivalent terms.) This is an area that project managers definitely need to understand at some level, and it is an area into which the project manager will give input. However, in many, and perhaps most companies, procurement is an area that the project manager does not own. The project manager normally does not have the authority to enter into contracts on behalf of the company, and he normally is not asked to administer the contracts once they are in place. (In some organizations the project managers have this authority, but my perception is that in most organizations they don't.) If you are purchasing goods or services on your project, you should determine whether yo