Procurement Management

The focus of this week’s discussion seems to center around procurement management and its relationship with project managers. In an attempt to fulfill the guidelines set forth in the discussion thread instructions I will begin by answering the following question: “As a Project Manager, what procurement management activities have you performed or experienced in the past?” Though my current position title is not a Project Manager I have been tasked with many of the procurement duties often times associated with Project Mangers.

As a Project Manager, what procurement management activities have you performed or experienced in the past?

Currently I work as a supply technician at the Warrior Transition Battalion located at Fort Carson, Colorado. This organizations essential mission is to assist and facilitate the needs of wounded warriors stationed at Fort Carson as they embark on a journey to regain their physical and mental health. By definition as a supply technician I am responsible for conducting all procurement management transactions within my organization. In the past I have been responsible the following actions: identifying potential goods and services, selecting vendors, price comparisons, conducting negotiations about prices and delivery schedules, government credit card reconciliation, reception and distribution of goods, and conducting inventory management. Though these aren’t the only procurement duties I have done these are the ones that come to mind immediately because I conduct them frequently.

If the PM has not completed those activities, who in the organization has?

The second question in the thread actually coincides quite well with the first question as it asks students to identify who if a...

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...is successful.

Conclusion

I found this first discussion to be an excellent introduction into the course itself because it forces students to insert themselves into the scenarios. I found the discussion to be quite useful as it helped me to better correlate my current professional duties with that of a project manager. This assignment has helped me to get back into the swing of things and I look forward to the weeks to come.

Works Cited

Esteves, A., & Barclay, M. (2011). Enhancing the benefits of local content: integrating social and

economic impact assessment into procurement strategies. Impact Assessment & Project

Appraisal, 29(3), 205-215. doi:10.3152/146155111X12949673796128.

Tunca, T.I., & Wu, Q. (2009). Multiple Sourcing and Procurement Process Selection with

Bidding Events. Management Science, 55(5), 763-780.