Purchasing Policies—Providing Guidance and Direction

Purchasing management develops policies to provide guidance and support to the professional purchasing and support staff. These policies are general outlines clarifying purchasing management’s position on a subject. Although many purchasing policies exist, most fall into one of five categories:

• Policies defining the role of purchasing
• Policies defining the conduct of purchasing personnel
• Policies defining social and minority business objectives
• Policies defining buyer-seller relationships
• Policies defining operational issues

The following discussion does not include all possible purchasing policies. Organizations will also develop policies to meet unique operational requirements.