ABSTRACT
A key element of the procurement cycle is the procurement document. It may be called a purchase requisition or a purchase order, or in some cases, a combination of forms all having the purpose of specifying the product or service to be purchased by the research center, along with appropriate technical and quality requirements to be met by the supplier. Many of the materials to be purchased for a project for R&D may not be actually critical to the quality or validity of the project data, but there are a sufficient number that are critical to warrant a formal system for review of procurement documents. This review should be performed by QA since they are familiar with the overall aspects of supplier evaluation and control and knowledgeable of the consequences of not adequately specifying material type, composition, markings, applicable codes, etc. At the time the project technical plan and the QA plan are developed, the project leader and the QA representative should have a general idea of which procurements will be critical to the results. If possible, they should be identified for later reference when the purchase requisitions actually are generated. Purchase requisitions should be identified to the job identification number to allow a reviewer to trace back to the basic technical plan and QA plan requirements.
