Steps in the Public Procurement Process

In much of the literature on public procurement, the procurement process is considered to include contract administration. At the same time, the terms contract administration and contract management are often treated as synonymous. To add to the confusion, the term contracting is sometimes introduced as well, leaving practitioners uncertain about the precise meaning and scope of these terms.

To help dispel this confusion, the public procurement process, as explained here, ends with contract award. Anything that occurs after contract award is considered contract administration. In future writings, the reason for making this clear distinction will be explained in detail. This distinction does not diminish the importance of contract administration. In fact, its purpose is to place greater emphasis on the importance of contract administration and to clarify areas of responsibility.

Additional confusion appears in other writings, including procurement manuals, where the procurement process is said to include inventory control and management, storage and distribution, and even disposal. These functions are more appropriately classified as part of logistics or supply chain management, rather than procurement itself.

In line with the above distinction, the steps in the public procurement process are listed below. Each step will be addressed in more detail in future posts:

1. Requirement identification
2. Determination of procurement method
3. Procurement planning and strategy development
4. Procurement requisition processing
5. Preparation and publication of solicitation documents
6. Pre-bid or pre-proposal meeting and site visit
7. Bid or proposal submission and opening
8. Bid or proposal evaluation
9. Contract award recommendation
10. Contract negotiations
11. Contract award and signing