Unauthorized Procurement

General

An "Unauthorized Procurement" is one in which the policies and procedures of an organization are not followed and the proper "vetting" of the procurement has not been done, and/or the proper approvals.

Unauthorized procurements should rarely if ever occur because the controls put in place to have an adequate Contractor Purchasing System require that they are designed to prevent this. If they do occur, corrective action of a that particular procurement should be done immediately, and additional controls need to be established from this situation repeating itself. Occurences could be an isolated mistake by an employee, or indicative of a more systemic probalem.

Evaluating the Cause

Generally, all unauthorized procurement requires looking at the situation from 2 distinct views. They are: 1. The individual circumstances, and individuals involved. It could be an isolated incident from a new employee, or employee not well trained. 2. From a system perspective. Does the procurement system have weaknesses in it to allow for this type of occurence.

Corrective Action

Corrective action must be taken at 2 levels, the individual level, and the system level.

Individual Level

Individual level corrective action, is normally a form that the individual completes, documenting the circumstances, and why the unauthorized procurement took place. It must also document what corrective actions have taken place at the individual level, such as required training, warning, etc.

System Level

Systems shall prevent unauthorized procurements. They should be designed so that there is a hierarchy of approvals and controls to prevent an unauthorized procurement. When one is detected, it is incumbent, that the system be reviewed to determine if there is a weakness in the system.