[1] A chief procurement officer and their department will often be responsible for: Some CPOs are in charge of locating sources for supplies and services, and maintaining relations with suppliers and vendors.
Aside from sourcing and negotiating prices and contracts, the CPO's staff usually work with a business's accounts payable function to ensure that vendors are paid on schedule.
The position of the chief procurement officer is believed by many to have taken on increased significance in corporations, and the role is thought to have grown more strategic in recent years.
These plans incorporate activities to bring more spending under management, enhance the procurement organization's skills and visibility, and increase both internal and external collaboration.
[4][5] This survey of nearly 250 CPOs around the world includes a procurement competency matrix, which considered the higher-level skills a purchasing department should have.
[6] Many CPOs recognise the importance of collaborating with their organisation's chief financial officer (CFO) and that an operating environment that values cash, profit margins, and risk mitigation is one that plays to the primary skills and capabilities of a procurement organization.
Since 2020, Bartolini observes more open communication, transparency and "active, formal and constant collaboration" becoming embedded in the relationship.