Engineers in the Procurement Process at NASA

Abstract

Procurement is the process of acquiring goods and services for a company. At the Kennedy Space Center the completion of an acquisition was taking long periods of time. This was caused because the engineers, who are knowledgeable in the technical field, needed training, guidance and the tools in the Procurement field. Engineers were trained in the field and tables and guidelines were given and explained to them. A better communication and understanding arose between the Contract Specialists and the Engineers, also helping to improve and make the completion of the process faster. It was proved that the applied strategies decreased the total amount of time taken to complete an acquisition. Engineers learned the documents they needed to turn in to the Contract Specialist for each different scenario and they also understood the documents to be worked by the Contract Specialist during the Procurement Process. Key Terms ⎯ Acquisitions, Contracts, Contract Specialists, Process.