Roles and responsibilities in the procurement process

The procurement officer has the primary responsibility for managing and administering the procurement. They draft all of the procurement documents.

The role is usually filled by a professional project manager.

However, for simple procurements the role could be filled by someone at the school, like a board member or caretaker.

The procurement owner represents the buyer in the procurement. They review and endorse all procurement documents prepared by the procurement officer (project manager).

School principals are usually assigned this role.

For procurements valued below $100,000, the procurement owner can be the same person as the procurement officer.

The procurement leader reviews and endorses all procurement documents and decisions.

This role is filled by your property advisor.

The procurement sponsor reviews and approves:

• conflict of interest management plans
• the procurement plan, and
• the recommendation report.

They sign the contract with the supplier on behalf of the school.

This role is filled by a member of the school board.

To maintain the procurement sponsor’s impartiality, the procurement sponsor can’t be directly involved in the decisions they approve. They cannot be on the evaluation team.

The evaluation team evaluate offers made by suppliers and make a recommendation for a preferred supplier.

This team should have at least 3 people in it and may include:

• the procurement officer
• the procurement owner
• a technical expert (such as an architect)
• a board member (this can’t be the same person as the procurement sponsor).

One member of the Evaluation team should be nominated as the team’s chairperson. For procurements over $100,000, this is a non-scoring role. The chairperson can be the procurement officer.