Construction Procurement: Work practices and procedures through client's eye.

The main objective of Procurement Department is to procure goods and services designed to meet operational requirements of construction projects to meet project feasibility. Also procurement department installs procurement insurance policies to ensure their organisation operates with integrity. Purchase department plays a very crucial role in site progress as its their responsibility to make material delivered on site as per requirement, so as to avoid hindrances on project site. A part from that department registers the potential suppliers and acquire new vendors.

Inter-Departmental Coordination of Procurement Department

Workflow of Procurement Department

1. Receive Requisition - A material requisition form lists the items required at project sites and are raised in form of indent by Stores Department to procurement department in ERP i.e. Enterprise Resource Planning. The indent contains name of material, quantity required, specifications of material and lead time. 
2. Check for Approval - The indent raised at site needs to be approved from concern authority. Once the indent is been approved the indent is processed open for Quotations.
3. Request for Quotation - Once the indent is approved the procurement department requests for quotation from different vendors.  Purchase manager scrutinizes the requirement with different factors like in terms of cost, criticality of requirement, quality of product, quantity of product, availability, vendor status etc.
4. Comparing Quotations - After receiving the quotations from all vendors a comparative of all quotations is been prepared. In this comparative a minimum of 3 quotations are required for comparison to select the L1 vendor. However the L1 vendor may or may not be finalized on the lowest landed cost.
5. Negotiation with Vendor -  Once the L1 vendor is selected, negotiation meetings are arranged to negotiate price, delivery terms, advance payment etc.
6. Quotation Approval - Once the WIN-WIN situation is attended by both the parties the purchase order is drafted and approved for selected vendor. The Purchase order is approved by Purchase Head when the total price of material is below the organization decidable limit. PO above the limit are approved by Project Head.
7. Material Received on Site  - Once the material is received on site the material is checked by site supervisor as per the approved sample material. Once the material received is as per the requirement the material is stored in site stores. In case of material is rejected on site due to various reasons it is reported to purchase department also a debit note is filled on PO. A Goods Receive Note i.e. GRN is created as a communication document with Billing Department.
8. Follow Up - It is the responsibility of Procurement department to take follow up on the materials to be received on site. The material needs to be delivered on site on time for smooth operations at site. Also procurement department needs to communicate with billing department about the payments schedule for supplier as a part of Vendor- Management Relationship.

I would like to thank my mentor Mr. Vikas Sawant sir  for providing me the opportunity to work in Procurement Department in my Internship at JP Infra Pvt Ltd.