Procurement without leaks: from BOQ line to purchase order to store
Procurement is where a project's money physically leaves. The process that protects it is old and boring — the discipline is making every step trace to the one before.
On a construction project, procurement is not a support function — it is the main channel through which the budget becomes a building. Materials are commonly 50–60% of project cost, and the process that spends that money is a chain of small documents: requisitions, purchase orders, delivery notes, store records, invoices. Projects rarely lose money in one dramatic decision; they lose it in the gaps between those documents.
The chain, and what each link is for
- 1Demand starts at the BOQ: the quantity to buy is the line quantity, less what the store already holds, plus agreed wastage. A requisition that does not reference a BOQ line is a question, not an order.
- 2The purchase order fixes the terms — item, quantity, rate, delivery, payment — with a supplier chosen against comparable quotes. Verbal orders are how rates drift.
- 3The delivery is received against the ORDER, not against the invoice: counted, checked, and recorded into the store as stock-in.
- 4Issues to works are stock-out against the project — this is what draws down the BOQ quantity and shows consumption against plan.
- 5The invoice is paid on the three-way match: order, delivery record, invoice. Two out of three is how duplicates and short deliveries get paid.
The leaks, named
| Leak | The gap it lives in |
|---|---|
| Over-ordering | Nobody netted the store balance off the BOQ quantity before ordering |
| Short delivery, full payment | Delivery not counted against the order; invoice matched to itself |
| Rate drift | Repeat orders placed verbally against last month's remembered price |
| Ghost consumption | Stock-out unrecorded, store balance fiction, theft invisible |
| Duplicate invoices | Payment not matched to a unique order number |
None of these require sophistication to stop — they require the chain to be unbroken, which is a system property rather than a diligence property. In Ofivio AEC with the Inventory Management module, a purchase order is raised from BOQ lines, the store receives against the order, issues draw down the project, and the procurement wallet shows commitment against budget in real time. The Warehouse department closes the loop with stock in, out, transfer and valuation.
See procurement, warehouse and BOQ as one chain — the shape that stops the leaks.
Explore Ofivio AEC →Construction management software built around the site, not the spreadsheet
Bill of quantities, purchase orders, store, daily site reports, IPCs and snags on one project record — so the office and the site stop keeping separate books.
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