The scribes of Ancient Egypt In the ancient world , scribes were people who copied documents . In Egypt , they were used to manage the supply of materials for building the great pyramids . Scribes recorded the volume of materials and workers required to complete the task , tracking orders through to fulfilment .

World wars give rise to defence procurement Successive world wars witnessed the creation of a parallel procurement process : defence procurement . Countries the world over rushed to source the raw materials , weapons , equipment , food and machinery necessary to fuel the war efforts of civilians and fighting forces .

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Industrial Revolution sees procurement take shape The Industrial Revolution marks the dawn of procurement as a trade in itself , with the creation of the rail network being a driving force . One of the earliest acknowledgements of procurement as a function comes in 1832 , in a book called ‘ The Economy of Machinery and Manufacturers ’, by noted mathematician , philosopher , inventor and mechanical engineer Charles Babbage .