Research and evaluate suppliers, based on price, quality, selection, service, support, availability, reliability, production and distribution capabilities, and the supplier's reputation and history.

“Research and evaluate suppliers, based on price, quality, selection, service, support, availability, reliability, production and distribution capabilities, and the supplier's reputation and history.” is a core task performed by Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Products. Among the occupation's 19 rated tasks, workers place it 12th by importance (#8 most important). About 95% of workers say it is relevant to their job.

This is a single occupation-specific task statement from O*NET. The figures below describe how central the task is to the job and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the task will be automated.

Work activities this task rolls up to

O*NET groups concrete tasks into broader work activities shared across many occupations.

• Obtain information about goods or services. in Getting Information

AI exposure

The OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rates this task E2. Exposure with tools — software built on top of a language model (not the model alone) could cut the time by at least half.

Exposure measures whether a model could meaningfully speed the task up — it is an estimate of overlap with model capabilities, not a measure of whether the work will be done by software. The study's intermediate score (β) for this task is 0.50. Automation potential label: T3.

Other tasks in this occupation

• Monitor and follow applicable laws and regulations. · importance 4.8
• Purchase the highest quality merchandise at the lowest possible price and in correct amounts. · importance 4.5
• Prepare purchase orders, solicit bid proposals, and review requisitions for goods and services. · importance 4.4
• Formulate policies and procedures for bid proposals and procurement of goods and services. · importance 4.4
• Write and review product specifications, maintaining a working technical knowledge of the goods or services to be purchased. · importance 4.3
• Analyze price proposals, financial reports, and other data and information to determine reasonable prices. · importance 4.2
• Hire, train, or supervise purchasing clerks, buyers, and expediters. · importance 4.2
• Negotiate, renegotiate, and administer contracts with suppliers, vendors, and other representatives. · importance 4.0
• Evaluate and monitor contract performance to ensure compliance with contractual obligations and to determine need for changes. · importance 4.0
• Study sales records and inventory levels of current stock to develop strategic purchasing programs that facilitate employee access to supplies. · importance 3.8
• Confer with staff, users, and vendors to discuss defective or unacceptable goods or services and determine corrective action. · importance 3.7
• Maintain and review computerized or manual records of purchased items, costs, deliveries, product performance, and inventories. · importance 3.7
• Monitor changes affecting supply and demand, tracking market conditions, price trends, or futures markets. · importance 3.7
• Monitor shipments to ensure that goods come in on time, and resolve problems related to undelivered goods. · importance 3.6

See all tasks on the Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Products page.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

@misc{singulariki-task-1144,
  title  = {Research and evaluate suppliers, based on price, quality, selection, service, support, availability, reliability, production and distribution capabilities, and the supplier's reputation and history.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/tasks/task-1144}
}