Description
Compile information and records to draw up purchase orders for procurement of materials and services.
- • Prepare purchase orders and send copies to suppliers and to departments originating requests.
- • Determine if inventory quantities are sufficient for needs, ordering more materials when necessary.
- • Respond to customer and supplier inquiries about order status, changes, or cancellations.
- • Perform buying duties when necessary.
- • Contact suppliers to schedule or expedite deliveries and to resolve shortages, missed or late deliveries, and other problems.
- • Review requisition orders to verify accuracy, terminology, and specifications.
- • Prepare, maintain, and review purchasing files, reports and price lists.
- • Compare prices, specifications, and delivery dates to determine the best bid among potential suppliers.
- • Track the status of requisitions, contracts, and orders.
- • Calculate costs of orders, and charge or forward invoices to appropriate accounts.
- • Check shipments when they arrive to ensure that orders have been filled correctly and that goods meet specifications.
- • Compare suppliers' bills with bids and purchase orders to verify accuracy.
- • Locate suppliers, using sources such as catalogs and the internet, and interview them to gather information about products to be ordered.
- • Maintain knowledge of all organizational and governmental rules affecting purchases, and provide information about these rules to organization staff members and to vendors.
- • Monitor in-house inventory movement and complete inventory transfer forms for bookkeeping purposes.
- • Monitor contractor performance, recommending contract modifications when necessary.
- • Prepare invitation-of-bid forms, and mail forms to supplier firms or distribute forms for public posting.
- • Train and supervise subordinates and other staff.
- • Approve and pay bills.
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Supply Chain & Transportation
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Tasks & skills:
O*NET occupational data (work activities, skills, knowledge).
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This site includes information from O*NET by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. Career Clutch has modified some of this information for student readability. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Last reviewed: Jan 2026
