In anticipation of a procurement auction, speculators have the incentive to consolidate the market by acquiring items from different sellers. By doing so, speculators gain market power and can reduce competition in the procurement auction. Consequently, a speculator's expected gain from the procurement auction may be high and more than enough to cover the acquisition costs. To study the profitability and welfare implications of such a speculation scheme, I incorporate a speculator and a pre-auction acquisition stage in an independent private value procurement auction model.