Each individual company in theconstruction industry has its own documented procurement procedure to achievesmooth procurement of materials and sub-contractors. The procurement managerand purchasing manager or director are responsible for complying with thisprocedure as their roles are the most critical in ensuring that the processgoes without any complications or obstacles that may cause delays in theschedule. Yet, the authority of changing this procedure rests with the commercialdirector or the CEO. The process starts when the procurementmanager receives from the project manager the proposed material submittalregisters and list of approved suppliers or manufacturers after the awarding ofeach contract.
The project manager is then responsible to send to the procurementmanager one request for bid summary for each item in the registers. All thenecessary information documents must be attached with each request as per the”Check List for RFBS (Request for Bid Summary) Attachments”. The prioritization of items by the project managershould take into consideration the necessary time for the procurement processto be completed, the approvals process as well as the average delivery periodfor each material or quantity. Upon the receival of any request for bidsummary, the procurement engineer in coordination with the secretary, and afterthe approval and guidance from the procurement manager, will disperse theenquiries amongst the suppliers and receive the quotations.
The procurement engineer should then preparea Technical-Commercial Comparison sheet and submit it to the procurementmanager for his review. After that, the procurement manager is required tonarrow down the list of suppliers, as required, and consult the purchasing director,if necessary, during the negotiation with the suppliers. Negotiation will coverall the terms related to aspects such as: Quality, warranty, price, terms of paymentand delivery and others (spare parts, extended warranties, etc.). After bidsummary approval, the secretary prepares a letter of intent to the bid winnerwith a copy to the project manager, approved in line with the authority matrix. After receiving the copy of letter of intent,the project manager should contact the supplier to get the material technicalsubmittal, which is his responsibility to check and submit to the consultantfor approval.
However, when a procurement team is based on the project site,the responsibility must be shared with the operations department.There are two possible responses fromthe consultant after submitting the material technical submittal to him. If the material submittal is received from the consultant with approval, the project manager should clarify the comments or notes with the supplier andrequest for revised submittal and submit to the consultant forthe final approval. This responsibility, again, should be a sharedresponsibility with the operations’ department when a procurement team is basedon the project site. In opposite, if the material submittal is received backwith rejection, the procurement manager and the project manager must discussand agree on either: making the necessary changes and resubmitting the sameproduct, or go to the next bidder in the bid summary.
In each of those cases,the secretary in the project should update the material submittal register andsubmit the weekly status report to the project manager for review, and copy itto procurement manager of corporate office, the commercial director, and seniordirector. Finally, the procurement manager has toput in the efforts to select a minimum of four suppliers for each item andfollow the procedure for selection and evaluation of suppliers.Although working in the roots of the procurementin any industry is a challenging and stressful job do the nature of the field;there are many deadlines and little room for error. This might take a toll onyour average person on the long run if that individual does not learn to evolvehis/her lifestyle and mindset to fit with the standards of being able toaccurately execute the job on a daily basis. Being capable of doing such tasksinvolves great rewards such as a high salary, an annual bonus or even both.
