ABSTRACT
The purchasing agent could be an independent organization, the contractor's purchasing department, or even the client's own purchasing department. In an international project, the client's purchasing department might, for convenience, issue purchase orders to local suppliers, leaving the managing contractor's head office purchasing department to deal with other suppliers worldwide. The purchasing agent would usually be given authority to add potential suppliers to any list put forward by the project engineers. A feature of project equipment purchasing is that the buyer should take a detailed interest in the vendor's own project management and quality procedures. The purchasing agent must ensure that every consignment is properly marked before it leaves the supplier's premises. Collaboration between the purchasing agent and a freight forwarding agent can achieve benefits from the economy of scale obtained when different consignments are consolidated to make up complete container loads.
