Procurement skills are often overlooked in project management and project engineering training and job recognition.
The majority of EPC project expenditure is with 3rd parties (eg professional services, vendors and site contractors).
This requires project managers and project engineers to have the skill to write and justify purchase requisitions and set up bespoke purchase orders and contracts which they will eventually be responsible for delivering.
They need to understand markets, negotiate effectively, and align requisition and contracts with project objectives.
This special type of procurement is a key capital project skill. I rate it as high as cost and programme management
It may not grab headlines, but it has the power to make or break a capital project. By recognising procurement as a core competency—not an afterthought—organisations can reduce costs, improve delivery certainty, and unlock greater long-term value from their CAPEX programmes.
Note that this is a skill to be encouraged not an excuse to plead ignorance and add to the team procurement professionals who may not recognise project, engineering and quality issues