CHAPTER 4
MATERIAL PROCUREMENT
The term procurement means an act of getting
material or services from supply sources. In the Navy,
procurement is a big undertaking. Think for a moment
about the size of the Navy and the amount of material it
needs to keep working.
The Navy’s procurement process involves
customers, support activities, and suppliers. The
customers prepare requisitions and submit the
completed forms to the supporting supply activity. Upon
receipt of the requisition, the supporting supply activity
checks the form for complete and correct information.
When requested material is available, the supply activity
processes the requisition for issue. If material is not
available, the supply activity refers the requisition to the
item manager or supporting stock points for issue. The
suppliers of material can be a military or civilian
organization. Chapters 1 through 3 of this training
manual describe inventory manager responsibilities and
stink points that supply material for the Navy. Material
and services received from civilian vendors arc those
not available in the Navy’s supply system.
The supply department processes procurement
requests to satisfy the customer’s needs or to restock
supplies. The procedures and forms used in procurement
may vary from activity to activity. The variations of the
forms used depend on the local procedures set by the
activity. In the most part, the basic procedures arc the
same for all activities. This chapter will help you learn
the procedures of getting the needed material to support
your activity. Also, you will learn how to get and
maintain the status of outstanding requisitions and
perform material obligation validations (MOVs).
REQUISITIONING INSTRUCTIONS
A customer who needs an item or service makes that
need known by submitting an official request called a
“requisition.” The requisition tells, in a standardized
format, what and how many of the item are needed. It
also tells who the customer is, the urgency of the
requirement (priority), and whom to bill for the
payment. The Military Stanadard Requisitioning and
Issue Procedures, NAVSUP P437, provides detailed
instructions for preparing requisitions. Refer to this
publication for additional information
processing.
METHODS OF PROCUREMENT
in requisition
There are two basic methods by which an activity
may obtain the material or services it requires. They are
the requisitioning and purchase methods. The
requisitioning method is done by submitting a
requisition to the supporting supply activity for material
with a stock number. There are times, however, when
the customer needs an item that does not have a stock
number. To get the item, the customer still submits a
requisition through the normal supply channel. The
stock point usually sends the requisition to a contracting
office, who buys goods and services from commercial
sources. The contracting office uses the information on
the requisition to buy the item on a onetime purchase
basis.
SOURCES OF SUPPLY
Activities will normally submit requisitions to the
supply activities specified in the orders and instructions
issued by higher authority. For ships, these instructions
are issued under the direction of fleet commanders.
When requisitioning instructions do not specify the
supply source, ships will submit requisitions to the
nearest Navy ashore supply activity.
MILITARY STANDARD REQUISITIONING
AND ISSUE PROCEDURES FORMS
The Department of Defense (DOD) developed the
Military Standard Requisitioning and Issue Procedures
(MILSTRIP). Its purpose is to standardize procedures,
forms, formats, codes, and documentation of
requisitioning and issuing systems for all military
services. The use of a coded, single-line item document
for each supply transaction is the basis of MILSTRIP.
Refer to NAVSUP P-437 (ashore) and NAVSUP P-485
(afloat) for the Navy supply system procedures for
operating MILSTRIP. The following text describes the
forms used for MILSTRIP requisitioning.
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