# Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Products

> Purchase machinery, equipment, tools, parts, supplies, or services necessary for the operation of an establishment. Purchase raw or semifinished materials for manufacturing. May negotiate contracts.

- **SOC code:** 13-1023.00
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-13-1023-00
- **Also known as:** Buyer, Procurement Official, Procurement Specialist, Purchasing Agent, Contract Administrator (Contract Admin), Procurement and Contracting Administrator (Procurement and Contracting Admin), Procurement and Contracting Buyer, Purchasing Administrator (Purchasing Admin)
- **Frame:** "AI exposure" means task overlap (how codifiable the work is), not jobs lost or a forecast. Every figure below is traced to a named public dataset.

## What this work is

**Core tasks** (O*NET):
- Monitor and follow applicable laws and regulations.
- Purchase the highest quality merchandise at the lowest possible price and in correct amounts.
- Prepare purchase orders, solicit bid proposals, and review requisitions for goods and services.
- Formulate policies and procedures for bid proposals and procurement of goods and services.
- Write and review product specifications, maintaining a working technical knowledge of the goods or services to be purchased.
- Analyze price proposals, financial reports, and other data and information to determine reasonable prices.
- Research and evaluate suppliers, based on price, quality, selection, service, support, availability, reliability, production and distribution capabilities, and the supplier's reputation and history.
- Hire, train, or supervise purchasing clerks, buyers, and expediters.
- Negotiate, renegotiate, and administer contracts with suppliers, vendors, and other representatives.
- Evaluate and monitor contract performance to ensure compliance with contractual obligations and to determine need for changes.
- Study sales records and inventory levels of current stock to develop strategic purchasing programs that facilitate employee access to supplies.
- Confer with staff, users, and vendors to discuss defective or unacceptable goods or services and determine corrective action.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- English Language _(knowledge)_
- Law and Government _(knowledge)_
- Negotiation _(transferable_skill)_
- Customer and Personal Service _(knowledge)_
- Reading Comprehension _(essential_skill)_
- Written Comprehension _(ability)_
- Administration and Management _(knowledge)_
- Active Listening _(essential_skill)_
- Writing _(essential_skill)_
- Speaking _(essential_skill)_
- Complex Problem Solving _(transferable_skill)_
- Oral Comprehension _(ability)_

**Skills in demand:**
- English Language _(Common Skill)_
- Negotiation _(Common Skill)_
- Reading Comprehension _(Common Skill)_
- Writing _(Common Skill)_
- Inductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Complex Problem Solving _(Common Skill)_
- Active Listening _(Common Skill)_
- Deductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(Common Skill)_
- Active Learning _(Common Skill)_
- Speech Recognition _(Specialized Skill)_
- Information Ordering _(Specialized Skill)_

**Tools & technology:**
- Microsoft Excel _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft Office software _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft Outlook _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft PowerPoint _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft SharePoint _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft Word _(hot technology, in demand)_
- SAP software _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Adobe Acrobat _(hot technology)_
- Google Docs _(hot technology)_
- Intuit QuickBooks _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Access _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Project _(hot technology)_

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 93rd percentile (High) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.):** 100th percentile (High) — source: felten_aioe.
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 77th percentile (High) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **Frey–Osborne (2013, historical computerization estimate):** 62nd percentile — kept separate from current-era studies.
- **Remote-capable (Dingel–Neiman):** yes — task structure, not who actually works remote.

## How people actually use AI here

Anthropic Economic Index — measured AI conversations mapped to this occupation's tasks:

- **Automation vs augmentation:** 50% automation, 30% augmentation (usage-weighted).
- **Autonomy median:** 3.0 (higher = AI acts more independently).
- **Dominant collaboration mode:** directive.

**Tasks most handed to AI here:**
- Monitor changes affecting supply and demand, tracking market conditions, price trends, or futures markets. _(1.7% of measured AI use; directive)_
- Prepare purchase orders, solicit bid proposals, and review requisitions for goods and services. _(0.5% of measured AI use; task iteration)_
- Negotiate, renegotiate, and administer contracts with suppliers, vendors, and other representatives. _(0.4% of measured AI use; directive)_
- Monitor and follow applicable laws and regulations. _(0.4% of measured AI use; directive)_

**Example prompts (honest phrasings of the tasks above — starting points, not endorsed instructions):**
- Help me monitor changes affecting supply and demand, tracking market conditions, price trends, or futures markets.
- Help me prepare purchase orders, solicit bid proposals, and review requisitions for goods and services.
- Help me negotiate, renegotiate, and administer contracts with suppliers, vendors, and other representatives.
- Help me monitor and follow applicable laws and regulations.

## Sources

- **O*NET** (30.3) — U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **Anthropic Economic Index** (v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27)) — Anthropic. https://www.anthropic.com/economic-index
- **“GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.)** (arXiv 2303.10130) — OpenAI / academic. https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130
- **AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE)** (Felten, Raj & Seamans) — academic. https://github.com/AIOE-Data/AIOE
- **Frey & Osborne (2013)** (frey-osborne-automation) — academic. https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/publications/the-future-of-employment/
- **Dingel & Neiman (2020)** (dingel-neiman-workathome) — academic. https://github.com/jdingel/DingelNeiman-workathome

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_Generated from Singulariki's joined dataset; data snapshot 2026-06-02T21:00:32.945303+00:00. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-13-1023-00_