state & local government | The Contracting Education Academy

November 9, 2016 By AMK

What does public procurement in 2020 look like?

Urgent recruiting to replace retirees, expanded buying through cooperative contracts and greater reliance on technology are becoming the norm, and public purchasers will see these trends expand even further in the coming years.

new-generation-of-public-procurement-officials-11-2016 As the workforce ages, procurement professionals are scrambling to replace exiting employees. In fact, succession planning is one of the top five factors that will most affect procurement in the next few years. According to a 2015 Government Procurement survey of public purchasing officials, nearly one-fifth of the 498 respondents said they would be retired in the next two to three years.

This data was reconfirmed in a 2016 compensation and retention benchmark survey from the NIGP: The Institute for Public Procurement, which shows many public procurement directors and managers are planning to turn in their badges. In the high single digits (7.2 percent for directors and 6.6 percent for managers), survey respondents said they were considering retirement in the next 12 months.

Exiting staff will only compound the issues with the heavy workloads procurement professionals already face. About 35 percent of public procurement professionals surveyed in Onvia’s “2016 Survey of Procurement Professionals” are stretched or working extra hours to meet deadlines.

Keep reading this article at: http://m.americancityandcounty.com/technology/public-procurement-2020

July 13, 2016 By AMK

Life after state procurement reform

As Texas found, agencies can be cautious of new purchasing rules.

The state government in Texas saw a lot of activity around procurement during its 2015 legislative session, passing dramatic reforms within Senate Bill 20 to improve state agency accountability and ensure competitiveness.

Two agencies lead Texas procurement: the Department of Information Resources, which handles IT hardware, software and services contracts, and the Comptroller of Public Accounts, which oversees the purchase of things like office supplies and furniture through its Procurement and Support Services Division. The two programs meet every year to create a catalogue of master contracts state agencies can procure from without a request for offer.

S.B. 20 imposed new requirements on that purchase activity, capping IT hardware procurements at $1 million—at which point a full solicitation with a draft statement of work and DIR review is required.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.routefifty.com/2016/06/texas-procurement-reform/129245

June 10, 2016 By AMK

Opportunity knocks: Getting vendors in the door

One of the persistent problems anyone within earshot of public procurement hears about is a lack of communication between public buyer and supplier.

Smart Cville That disconnect can take many forms and happens at many different stages, including a failure to communicate with potential vendors when shaping requirements, a failure to clarify those requirements, and a failure post-award to work closely with the vendor to manage their performance. But all of those assume one very basic thing: That a potential vendor even hears about an opportunity. Never a safe assumption at any level of government.

Which is why it’s heartening to see a new trend in the public market, taking aim at just this problem. The latest example is a story out of Charlottesville, Virginia, in which a nonprofit called Smart Cville has built a “procurement alert system” for the city. Every time a new opportunity is posted to Charlottesville’s website, subscribers to the alert system will be notified.

Keep reading this article at: http://publicspendforum.net/opportunity-knocks-vendors-door/

June 1, 2016 By AMK

State government’s use of 4-tiered RFP procurement method called a model

In 2013, with a renewed emphasis on bolstering the state’s tourism industry, Tennessee leaders began a procurement process to secure new advertising services. The innovative process serves as a model of modern procurement, and can be easily replicated by other states.

As a result of the services provided by the new vendor, as well as other activities, Tennessee generated an estimated $1 billion in increased tourism spending from 2013 to 2014. And, one of the ad campaigns that resulted from the procurement received the advertising industry’s prestigious Cannes Lion award. Tennessee is the first state to ever receive this award.

The primary objective was to procure best-in-class marketing and advertising services for the Tennessee. The firm would be charged with modernizing the state’s marketing and advertising campaigns by utilizing current technology, such as social media, to drive interest and tourism from around the world.

The second objective was to use a procurement method that would ensure that the awarded contractor was highly qualified, while still allowing cost to be a factor in determining the award. This was the first time the state had altered its request for proposals process and incorporated a four-tiered approach to determine the successful vendor.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.routefifty.com/2016/05/tennessee-procurement-marketing-advertising/128326

April 8, 2016 By AMK

Efforts to streamline state purchasing systems should be encouraged

What can states do to modernize the way they buy goods and services? Here are the recommendations and best practices from the National Association of State Procurement Officials.

Legislative and executive branches in states across the country are facing a new challenge: how to modify and streamline purchasing systems. In its simplest form, we are talking about how states buy goods and services.

Sounds simple enough, but too often across the country, billions of dollars are at stake when state purchasing is conducted through a stove-piped method of legacy systems, old technologies and obsolete procedures.

Procurement must be seen as an opportunity to reduce waste and increase efficiency in state government. To provide a framework for how to move forward, the National Association of State Procurement Officials has released guidelines and best practices. NASPO’s seven principles of state purchasing provide a consistent direction that states can follow to create efficient, modern and cost-effective purchasing processes:

Single Procurement Manager at an Executive Level
Delegation of Authority
Enterprise Approach to Acquisition
Comprehensive Procurement Law
eProcurement Systems
Skilled Procurement Professionals
Information Technology

Keep reading this article at: http://www.routefifty.com/2016/03/state-purchasing-systems-naspo-streamline/127134/

Urgent recruiting to replace retirees, expanded buying through cooperative contracts and greater reliance on technology are becoming the norm, and public purchasers will see these trends expand even further in the coming years.

As Texas found, agencies can be cautious of new purchasing rules.

One of the persistent problems anyone within earshot of public procurement hears about is a lack of communication between public buyer and supplier.

In 2013, with a renewed emphasis on bolstering the state’s tourism industry, Tennessee leaders began a procurement process to secure new advertising services. The innovative process serves as a model of modern procurement, and can be easily replicated by other states.

What can states do to modernize the way they buy goods and services? Here are the recommendations and best practices from the National Association of State Procurement Officials.

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