Outsourcing procurement means to subcontract the planning-purchasing-monitoring-administering function or parts thereof. This can be necessary in case there is too much work on an existing procurement team or if the complexity of procurement is beyond the capacities and capabilities of the in-house procurement team. However, even in case of outsourcing, the responsibility of the decision making remains to the Contracting Authority.
One of the advantages of outsourcing procurement activities is that the Contracting Authority may acquire, from case to case, exactly the technical, managerial and legal expertise that is necessary for the case at hand.
If for example the Contracting Authority has to build a hospital it may be well staffed to do the procurement for the construction work of the hospital. But it may not have the expertise to do the procurement for the medical equipment for the hospital. Outsourcing the procurement for the medical equipment (instead of hiring doctors and engineers specialised in medical equipment) may be the best, perhaps the only solution.