If you're the person who actually places equipment orders and then has to make the invoice, the asset register, and the operations calendar agree—this checklist is for you.

I'm an office administrator for a 150-person oilfield services company. I manage equipment and supply purchasing—about $1.2 million a year, which works out to 60-80 orders across eight vendors. I report to both operations and finance, so when a supplier goes sideways, it usually lands on my desk at 6 p.m. on a Friday.

These six steps come from real orders, real mistakes, and at least one handwritten invoice that cost my department budget $2,400. They're not in any textbook. Use them as written, or adapt them to your own structure—just keep the order roughly the same, because each step builds on the previous one.

The Six-Step Checklist

Step 1: Verify Certifications Before You Need Them

A sales rep came into our office in 2022 with a polished deck saying their equipment was API Q1 certified. A lot of people nod at that moment. I don't nod anymore—not since 2020, when a "certified" supplier turned out to have a lapsed API license. Our quality team caught it only after we'd issued a purchase order for $90,000, and we spent six weeks untangling the mess.

The fix takes ten minutes. Search the API Composite List, or the ISO registrar's online database, for the supplier's legal name. Check the certificate's scope and expiry date. You'd be surprised how many companies claim "API Q1 certified" while being between audit cycles and unable to produce a current certificate. If they can't show you the document, that's a strike against them—not a minor detail.

Step 2: Map the Service Footprint on an Actual Map

Most vendor evaluations I've seen focus on the big logo and the global brand. That's marketing, not supply chain. What matters is the service center that will actually touch your work.

For example, if your operations are in the North Sea, knowing that Baker Hughes has a Bridge of Don facility in Aberdeen is useful only if that location does local repairs, assembly, or carries spares. It might just be a base office that coordinates work elsewhere. So ask directly: which of your locations will handle my order, and what is each one capable of doing? The mismatch between what a sales office promises and what a service center can deliver has cost me weeks of lead time more than once.

Step 3: Ask About Key-Person Risk—Before Someone Leaves

There's been a lot of search interest in personnel moves at major suppliers—for example, the question of Uwem Ukpong leaving Baker Hughes. I can't confirm that from where I sit, and it doesn't matter for this checklist. What matters is that supplier leadership changes happen whether or not you hear about them. If your relationship lives in one person's phone, you're fragile.

When you're vetting a vendor, ask for the full account team, including the named backup for each role. A mature supplier gives you that list without hesitation. If they start explaining why it's not necessary, that's a yellow flag. I also ask how they handle transitions when a project manager leaves mid-contract—specifically, who owns the documentation and who keeps the schedule. Those questions get you a lot further than asking whether the company is "stable."

Step 4: Test the Invoicing Process on a Small Order

Everything I'd read about supplier selection says to compare technical specs and unit prices first. In practice, I've found that invoicing discipline is what separates the vendors I trust from the ones I watch. Here's something vendors won't tell you: the first quote is almost never the final price for an ongoing relationship. There's usually room to negotiate once you've shown you're a reliable customer. But the bigger hidden cost is paperwork finance can't use.

We once rejected $2,400 in expenses because a supplier gave us handwritten receipts and our finance department wouldn't approve the line items. I ended up eating that out of the department budget—and yes, that's as annoying as it sounds. Since then, I request a sample invoice before the first PO. If they can't produce a clean, itemized invoice with matching line items, P.O. number, and tax details, they'll be a problem later. Same goes for test reports and certificates of conformance. Ask for a sample packet up front, even if you're not going to use it immediately.

Step 5: Get Turnaround Time—and What's Behind It—in Writing

"Standard turnaround" is the most meaningless phrase in oilfield procurement. It usually includes buffer time that vendors use to manage their production queue. That's not necessarily how long YOUR order will take.

In 2024, I had two hours to decide on rush VFD units for a maintenance window. Normally, I'd get three quotes and compare freight options, but there was no time. I went with our usual vendor on trust. The equipment arrived, but we paid an ugly expediting premium that wasn't in the original quote. In hindsight, I should have asked for the turnaround breakdown months earlier.

Ask now for a written breakdown: what lead time applies to standard orders, what triggers expedite fees, and who owns the handoff between the sales office and the production floor. If a vendor can't articulate that process, your "average" lead time will eventually be one you can't afford.

Step 6: Put Someone from Operations on the Vendor Call

Chris, our field operations lead, has saved us more times than I can count. The sales rep knows pricing. The person who runs the equipment knows whether the spec actually fits the rig.

On at least six of ten vendor calls, Chris's questions changed what we ordered. Once, his questions stopped us from buying a mud pump that would have been the wrong frame size. Another time, he caught that the "new" control system was actually a variation we'd retired two years earlier because of compatibility issues. The vendor hadn't been misleading us—they just didn't know our equipment history. Chris did.

Include an end user in every significant vendor evaluation. It sounds obvious, but it's the first thing that gets cut when calendars get busy.

Common Mistakes That Keep Costing People Money

  • Chasing the lowest price per unit. Nobody would choose flea treatment for a dog just because a search shows "simparica best price"—the right product depends on the animal, the vet, and the situation. Oilfield equipment is the same. The lowest quoted price is rarely the lowest total cost.
  • Keeping all your spend with one supplier. It's tempting, like spreading peanut butter on just one slice of bread—it seems efficient. But when that supplier has an outage, a strike, or an internal reorganization, you'll need another approved vendor ready to step in. I keep at least one qualified backup for every critical product category.
  • Re-verifying only once. Certifications expire. Facilities move. People change roles. I re-check our approved vendor list every year, and I've removed three vendors in five years because they no longer met our requirements. It takes an afternoon, and it prevents a very bad month.
  • Learning about a vendor's culture only in a crisis. The time to find out how a supplier handles invoicing, rush orders, or missing parts is not during rig downtime. Test them on a small, non-critical order first. You'll learn more from one small order than from ten sales presentations.

Bottom Line

What was best practice in 2020 may not be enough in 2025. Certification databases are easier to access, supplier footprints have shifted, and personnel changes are happening faster than they used to. The fundamentals haven't changed—trust, reliability, and compliance still matter. But the execution has transformed, and your procurement checklist has to keep up.

Six steps. Ten minutes per verification. Fewer awkward calls to finance. That's about as good as it gets in this job.