Procurement & Supplier Management Policy

Procurement & Supplier Management Policy

1. Purpose

Establish the minimum governance for supplier selection, purchase ordering, receiving, quality control and accounts-payable evidence.

2. Scope

Applies to Metrolane purchases from external suppliers and service providers that are represented through ERP procurement processes.

3. Policy

Purchases are initiated through authorized business processes and represented by an ERP purchase order where the process requires one. The purchase order identifies the supplier, ordered item/service, currency, dates and commercial values. Receiving must reference the applicable purchase order when that relationship exists. Purchased material may be subject to quality inspection before release. Supplier invoices and payment obligations are accounted for through ERP controls. No one may create an informal supplier identity or alter a posted receipt merely to reconcile a document mismatch.

4. Responsibilities

Procurement manages supplier/commercial coordination; receiving records what arrived; Quality records inspection evidence; Finance owns invoice/accounting controls; document control maintains policy and contractual records.

5. Exceptions and escalation

Emergency or exceptional procurement must leave an auditable approval trail. A missing supplier, item or transaction reference is resolved through the authoritative source process, not filled by free-text invention.

6. Records and evidence

Supplier master data, purchase orders, goods receipts, inspection/disposition evidence, supplier invoices and payments provide the transaction evidence.

7. Related controlled information

Incoming Inspection Procedure; Nonconforming Material & Quality Disposition Procedure; supplier agreements and item specifications.

Responsibilities and ownership

Business functions covered by this policy are responsible for applying the current published version, recording required approvals and preserving the evidence that supports a decision. Managers are responsible for ensuring that exceptions are visible and do not become informal standing practice. Where another controlled policy or transaction record is more specific, that record remains authoritative for the particular case.

Control and records

Records created under this policy must be maintained in the system that owns the underlying business activity. A policy document explains the rule; it does not replace an order, case, claim, invoice, approval, receipt or other operational record. Supporting evidence should be sufficient for a later reviewer to understand what was requested, what was decided and why.

Exceptions and interpretation

Where the policy cannot be applied because required evidence is missing or the facts are ambiguous, the matter should be escalated through the responsible function rather than resolved by assumption. Any approved exception should be recorded with its business context and approver. Silence in this policy must not be treated as permission to bypass another applicable control.

Review and revision

This policy remains in force until superseded or withdrawn through the controlled-document process. Material changes are reviewed and approved before publication, and the effective date of the new version determines when it governs future business activity.