<P> Ardent Partners published a report in 2011 which presented a comprehensive, industry - wide view into what is happening in the world of procurement today by drawing on the experience, performance, and perspective of nearly 250 chief procurement officers and other procurement executives . The report includes the main procurement performance and operational benchmarks that procurement leaders use to gauge the success of their organizations . This report found that the average procurement department manages 60.6% of total enterprise spend . This measure commonly called "spend under management" refers to the percentage of total enterprise spend (which includes all direct and indirect spend) that a procurement organization manages or influences . The average procurement department also achieved an annual savings of 6.7% in the last reporting cycle, sourced 52.6% of its addressable spend, and has a contract compliance rate of 62.6% . </P> <P> Procurement and Finance have, as functions within the corporate structure, been at loggerheads . The contentious nature of their relationship can perhaps be attributed to the history of procurement itself . Historically, Procurement has been considered Finance's underling . One reason behind this perception can be ascribed to semantics . When Procurement was in its infancy, it was referred to as a "commercial" operation . And so the procurement department was referred to as the commercial department rather than the procurement department: the word "commercial" was understood to be associated with money . And so it was obvious that Procurement would become directly answerable to Finance . Another factor, equally grounded in semantics, was that procurement departments (or rather, commercial departments) were always seen as "spending the money ." This impression was enough to situate Procurement within the Finance function . It's easy to see why Procurement and Finance are functions with interests that are mutually irreconcilable . Whereas Procurement is fundamentally concerned with the spending or disbursal of money, Finance, by its very nature, performs a cost - cutting role . That is fundamentally the reason why Procurement's aspirations have been constantly checked by Finance's cost - cutting imperatives . This notion, however, has been changing as more chief procurement officers have begun to argue for more autonomy and less interference from Finance departments . </P> <P> Public procurement generally is an important sector of the economy . In Europe, public procurement accounts for 16.3% of the Community GDP . </P> <P> In green public procurement (GPP), contracting authorities and entities take environmental issues into account when tendering for goods or services . The goal is to reduce the impact of the procurement on human health and the environment . </P>

A recent trend in supply management is a move towards a more sustainable supply chain. true false