Procurement is one of the 19 functional FM knowledge areas that are categorized into four key knowledge domains.

Definition: Procurement is the activity of acquiring goods or services from suppliers.

Procurement is an essential part of a facility manager’s job. A facility manager may be providing service to a parent organization (of which FM is one function) or to a client/customer organization (which purchases FM as a service). A facility manager’s role in procurement for a parent organization starts with securing a budget to make purchases.

FM and the procurement department work together to bring goods or services into the organization: from needs identification, through research, cost comparison, and analysis, to selecting good, competent suppliers.

Key Concepts:

• Definitions of procurement and sourcing.
• Procurement goals.
• Strategic procurement considerations and policies.
• Proposal submission process types.
• Procurement process/stages.
• Bid evaluation criteria.
• Bid evaluation procedures.
• Roles of FM and procurement department.
• Service level agreements (SLAs).
• Monitoring supplier performance.
• Outsourcing advantages and disadvantages.
• Outsourcing process.
• Management contractor types.
• Balanced scorecard.

Procurement Proficiency Indicators (Task Statements)

• Demonstrates knowledge of rules and requirements for purchasing products and services.
• Assists in development of procurement strategy and policies.
• Establishes source selection criteria for evaluating and choosing resources (e.g., commodity and services).
• Develops requests for information (RFIs) and requests for proposal (RFPs).
• Participates in due diligence analysis.
• Provides technical support to the organization’s procurement process.
• Identifies and interfaces with internal and external accountable resources (e.g., external vendors, internal or external IT systems owners).
• Obtains quotes and tenders from vendors and suppliers.
• Selects vendors and suppliers that allow for sustainable sourcing.
• Creates an effective statement of work (SOW) to ensure proper procurement of a product or service.
• Establishes performance criteria for evaluating contracted resources.

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