TOPIC: When are procurements closed? Help! I have the exam on 11/10!

Hi,

This is going to be long, so I apologize, but please help!

There are some contradictions surrounding when the closing of procurements should occur and I was wondering if anyone can provide insight. I have the PMP Exam next week on 11/10 so any information would be great!

My belief is that procurements are closed during process 12.3 Control Procurements. However, I have seen references that procurements are closed during the Closing Process Group.

Here are a few places that support that it is included in process 12.3 Control Procurements.

1) PMPBOK6 - Page 492, 499 - "Closed Procurements" is an output of Process 12.3 Control Procurements
2) PMPBOK6 - Page 121 - "Procurement documentation" is an input to the Closing Process Group
3) The Standard for Project Management (from PMPBOK6) - Page 630 - "Closed Procurements" is an output of Process 12.3 Control Procurements
4) The Standard for Project Management (from PMPBOK6) - Page 634 "Procurement documentation" is an input to the Closing Process Group
5) Process Groups - A Practice Guide - Page 189, 190 - "Closed Procurements" is an output of Process 12.3 Control Procurements
5) Process Groups - A Practice Guide - Page 196 - "Procurement documentation" is an input to the Closing Process Group
6) PMP Precast Simulator - I don't have specific examples anymore, but it seems that this thought is also endursed by PMP Prepcast course and practice exams.

Here are places that are either vague, misleading or contradicting that may support that procurements are closed or activies done during the Closing Process Group.(phase/transition).

1) PMP Exam Content Outline (2021 version) - Page 9
Process Domain Task 17 ("Plan and manage project/phase closure or transitions"),
Bullet 3 "Conclude activities to close out project or phase (e.g., final lessons learned, retrospective, PROCUREMENT, financials, resources"
2) PMPBOK6 - page 123 - "Ensuring that all costs are charged to the project" & "Closing project accounts" are activies to complete in the Closing Process Group.
3) Process Groups - A Practice Guide - Page 198 - "Confirm the formal acceptance of the seller's work" & "Finalize Claims" are activities to complete in the Closing Process Group
3) Multiple Exam Prep questions from simulators/test other than the Prep Cast Simulator support closing procurements during the Closing Process
2 examples - Yassine Tounsi - "2023 Mock Practice Tests" & PMP New Horizon Group - "(2023) Highly Situational PMP Exam - PMBOK 7th Updated + ECO" Practice Tests"

Specific to a Yassine Tounsi example question 173 of the Practice Test 5: Full Mock Exam 3, it states the following:

"3 months into project execution, the sponsor gets into a financial crisis and asks the project manager to immediately end the project. What should the project manager do next?"

2 of the Answer Choices:

1) "Start the close procurement process"
2) "Start the close project process"

Explanation:

"When the project is closed or terminated for any reason, the project manager should start the close process. Procurement closure is part of the "Close project" process. The situation in the question requires project termination, so the correct answer implies executing the process that addresses the situation, i.e. the Close Project process. Plus, there is no indication in the question that the project has procurements."

I chose the Start the close procurement process as I thought it was part of the process of Control Procurements, not a real process called Close Procurement (that is an old process name no longer valid). However, Yassine specifically states that procurement closure is part of the "Close Project" which is what is in debate here.

Looking back, I probably should have not selected "Start the close procurement process" anyway as that is not one of the 49 processes, but I was thinking of activities within the the Control Procurements process, not an actual process name. However, Yassine is clearly contradictions most information I have seen and believe.

Additionally, a quick search on google will show many different viewpoints on this discussion that are also contradictory (I lost count of all the contradictions..)

Any insight that can be given, would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Steve,

After reading your post, I do remember encountering some questions on the simulation exams and the PMP exam that will try to trick you like the one from your example, where close procurement is not actually a process. Even though it may sound right and all other answers may not sound 100% correct. The exam will have questions like these, and you should definitely try to discard answers that you know can be ruled out simply because it doesn't exist in PMI's eyes. Close Procurement is not a process and should be eliminated right away as good as it may sound. One advice I would give you is try not to overthink your answer. In theory you may be correct in that procurement gets closed in the Control Procurements process, but keep in mind the circumstance of the scenario presented. When you know a project needs to close right away, you would no longer spend resources in the Monitoring and Controlling phase of the project, but you would go into Closing the project to minimize waste. I hope this makes sense.

Regards,