Should Procurement be governed by rigid and inflexible rules to be applied by procurement professionals without any discretion, Or procurement professionals should have broad guidelines with discretionary powers to deal with circumstances on case to case basis?

Thanks for nice question.

Procurement shall be governed by the rules and procedures of the organization as detailed in Procurement Manual or Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). Procurement Professionals shall not be empowered with discretionary powers as it contradicts with the principles of transparency fairness, economy and efficiency. 

However, in some cases, some deviations may be justified or necessary in order to execute the work and/or in the interest the work completion. In such a situation, the issue is to be placed before the Procurement Committee or appropriate body with due justification for a decision. The decision of Procurement committee or designated appropriate body shall be final and contract is to be amended accordingly as decided. 

What i have learnt by my experience. Sourcing is a complex field. where you have to take care your co rights and fairness in your dealing with the suppliers. if you are representing brand name then thy already set up a proper global plan of guidelines. yes Procurement Professional has a right to choose the best based on the running condition by his sales and production end. everything shall be white and black and well informed to concerned in this regard.

The Public Procurement Cycle

• Introduction
• The Goal of Public Procurement
• Actors, Stakeholders and Beneficiaries of Public Procurement
• Similarities and Differences between Public and Private Sector Procurement
• Procurement Legal Framework
• Tender Boards

Basic Principles of Public Procurement

• • Transparency
  • Integrity
  • Economy
  • Openness
  • Fairness
  • Competition
  • Accountability

It is always better to play by the roles, but in some circumstances a special approvals should be secured after a critical situation arises.

i think better make % for non centralized with big monitor

As competition becomes global, newer ways of procurement keep coming up. Procurement should be flexible, cost effective methods should be adopted, and the new tech savy methods should be tried and applied.