Maverick spend — also called maverick buying — is procurement conducted outside defined processes and existing master agreements.
Examples in services. A business unit engages a freelancer or consultancy directly by email or phone. A running engagement is extended informally. A supplier is chosen without comparing offers. A requirement is scoped or split so that it stays below an approval threshold.
Why it happens. Rarely out of bad intent. The official process feels slow, master agreements are unknown or hard to find, no suitable agreement exists, or the need is urgent. Services add a further factor: there is no catalogue to order from, and the requirement has to be described first. For stakeholders without procurement experience that is a hurdle, and a call to a familiar provider avoids it.
What it costs. Negotiated terms do not take effect. Without a comparison of offers, price and scope go unchecked. Procurement does not see the spend, or sees it late, and the spend analysis stays incomplete. Contractual standards are missing. Afterwards, effort arises from invoices without a purchase order, retroactive approvals and clarification with the business unit.
How to recognise it. Invoices without a purchase order reference, suppliers without an agreement or not in the supplier master, spend in categories with a master agreement that runs outside it, retroactive orders. The central metric is the share of spend outside process and agreements. The counter-metric is spend under management.
What works. Bans and extra approval steps alone do not remove the causes. More effective is to remove the reasons: simple requirement capture, short cycle times, findable agreements, visible request status. Add transparency over actual spend and clear responsibilities. The guiding principle: the intended route has to be the easiest one.
Where it sits. Maverick spend describes how something was bought: outside the process. Off-contract spend is narrower and means spend outside existing agreements. Tail spend describes size: many small purchases, which can be fully process-compliant. Spend under management is the counter-metric.
Terminology. Maverick spend and maverick buying mean the same thing. Also used: "rogue buying". In German: "Maverick Buying", "wilder Einkauf", "Einkauf am Einkauf vorbei".