Irfan Ahmad

Procurement Management Irfan Ahmad

Public procurement has emerged in recent years, as a complex function that utilizes a great amount of public fund. Undeniably, public procurement has become a multifaceted system that consists of procurement laws and regulations, procurement processes (from approvals, appropriations, invitation to bid, bidding process, to contract award, and contract administration, etc.), Procurement methods (from open competitive bidding, pre-qualification to alternate methods of procurement etc.), procurement techniques (life-cycle costing, evaluation, negotiations, etc.), procurement organizational structure (procuring agencies, user departments), procurement professionalism (procurement offices and workforce). The public procurement function becomes further intricate when public procurement, becomes a policy tool due to the size of its spending. The policy makers use this tool to address community issues, environment protection (green procurement) and economic development (including local preferences). These policy apprehensions have made procurement practices thornier. Constantly changing global environment has further convoluted public procurement as procurement officers have to comply with international trade agreements along with national procurement legal framework. Consequently, there was a dire need of a textbook on procurement management to enhance the skills of procurement professionals and to update them with the advanced practices in procurement arena. This need, I presume, has been fulfilled to a great extent by publication of the two volumes of "Procurement Management". The second volume of "Procurement Management" covers the practical aspects of procurement practices. A number of chapters elucidate eloquently, varied areas of procurement management, which in consequence, will help to clear the concepts of procurement professionals. The decision of selection of a procurement method is often regarded as the key decision in the procurement planning process and is one of the mandatory requirement in the annual procurement plan. There are many methods which can be adopted and certain circumstances are particularly appropriate to each procurement method for procurement of goods, services and works. The precise selection of procurement method at the beginning of the procurement activity is therefore a significant aspect in the success of the procurement process as incorrect choice of procurement method may have an adverse effect on the bidding process.