It doesn't necessarily require a contract, nor is it limited to just MRO activity. It might be accomplished through an auction mechanism or even through a bartered exchange of goods or services. This process typically involves prearranged contracts between the corporation and its suppliers. Employees can see a catalog of approved items and are subject to an authorization check. The buyer and seller optionally pre-negotiate a standing contract for discounts and other promotions.
Payment is per contract terms or through an outside credit card company.
The contract pricing and discount terms are captured as pricing criteria in both QAD procurement and QAD order management for the buyer and seller respectively. The seller publishes catalogs for use by its customers. QAD users will take advantage of QAD's catalog publishing facilities, or simply post the catalog as part of their e-Commerce web site. Buyers maintain a corporation-specific catalog using QAD catalog maintenance capabilities, or use catalogs hosted by other companies. In the latter case, the buyer uses the integration capabilities offered in QAD requisition management to capture requests made on the hosted catalog.