In the broad sense, procurement and procurement related activities occur during all phases of a construction project.
In general, the procurement cycle involves all or some of the following steps:
- Issuance and processing of requisition
- Solicitation of bids
- Receipt and evaluation of proposals
- Issuance of purchase order, subcontract or lease
- Vendor preparation and submission of shop drawings
- Review and approval of shop drawings above
- Fabrication by Vendor
- Tracking and expediting
- Inspection
- Shipment and Transportation
Each of these steps above mentioned involve complicated and difficult problems to solve for a smooth execution of the project.