Uncategorized Bulletins
Registration is now open for Procurement U’s CPPB and CPPO Fall 2019 Exam Prep Courses! These courses are designed to assist any public procurement professional preparing to take the UPPCC CPPB or CPPO certification exams. Registration will remain open through August 1st for the Fall 2019 courses.
Procurement U’s fall prep courses run August 12-October 13, 2019. These are convenient, web-based, instructor-led courses worth 12 contact hours. NASPO members and all other state government employees enjoy a discounted rate of $300 over the standard price of $480.
Register here for the CPPB course. Register here for the CPPO course.
Taking the Profile of Public
Procurement to a Higher Level
NASPO began pursuing a number of higher education initiatives in 2016, with the overarching goal of elevating public procurement as a dedicated career path and chosen profession. Since then, NASPO has partnered with six colleges and universities across the country, serving each of its four regions.
Learn more about NASPO’s higher education initiatives from our Academic Affairs Manager Olivia Hook Frey.
Eastern, Southern Regional
conferences coming up soon!
NASPO’s Southern and Eastern Regional conferences are just around the corner!
We look forward to seeing our Eastern Region members in Portland, Maine, July 16-18, at The Westin Portland Harborview and our Southern Region members July 23-25, at the Hutton Hotel Nashville in Nashville, Tennessee, as we share new approaches to your top procurement priorities and discuss best practices.
With education and networking opportunities targeted to state procurement staff, NASPO Regional Conferences offer an excellent professional development opportunity for up to six individuals from your state.
Questions? Contact registrations@naspo.org for more information about the upcoming regional conferences.
The George Cronin Awards Program recognizes outstanding procurement initiatives that focus on innovation, transferability, service improvement and cost reduction as its defining criteria. This program allows states the opportunity to provide well-deserved recognition and appreciation to the procurement personnel who have implemented projects that resulted in distinct benefits to their state.
The deadline for the 2019 Cronin Awards is fast approaching! If you have a project that you would like to submit, please do so by Monday, July 15. You can find the submission form and guidelines by clicking here.
Internship toolkit
Are you thinking of hiring an intern for your procurement office? Not sure where to begin? NASPO can help! Check out our newly published online internship toolkit, which provides everything you need to attract, hire, train and evaluate your procurement intern.
While you’re at it, mark your calendars for an upcoming webinar on the NASPO internship program. Summer Internship Program: Learn about the process will be held on Tuesday, August 20 at 1 pm ET.
More information coming soon!
Sustainability in Procurement Webinar
NASPO and The Green Electronics Council (GEC) are co-hosting a one-hour webinar on July 11, at 2 p.m. ET that showcases NASPO ValuePoint’s inclusion of sustainability in one of its most prominent IT portfolios: “Computer Equipment, Peripherals & Related Services.”
This webinar will feature a panel of representatives from NASPO ValuePoint, the GEC, and Minnesota, the lead state™ for the ValuePoint computer contract. The webinar will convey the power of cooperative purchasing and ways in which it can be harnessed to promote sustainability.
GEC will discuss EPEAT’s scope, impact, credibility, and tools that help purchasers easily implement and measure benefits, such as avoided greenhouse gas emissions, waste reduction, and cost savings.
This webinar will highlight how the NASPO ValuePoint cooperative harnesses enormous purchasing power and was able to leverage that power to promote the purchase of more sustainable products through use of EPEAT. Register here.
2019 NASPO Annual Conference
registration opens!
Registration for the 2019 NASPO Annual Conference is now open! Join fellow NASPO members September 8-11, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for the 2019 NASPO Annual Conference.
To help you leverage the leadership, excellence and integrity that empowers procurement officials to advance state government, the 2019 NASPO Annual Conference promises a variety of opportunities for collaboration, idea exchange and solution sharing for the common challenges state procurement leaders face. Register now!
The Annual Conference kicks off with Procurement U’s optional training entitled “A Seat at the Table: Central Procurement as a Strategic Leader,” a top priority for state procurement in 2019.
This training will explore strategies and practical examples to position the central procurement office as an invaluable piece of the state’s strategic planning, and help each CPO become a strategic leader for their state. The focus will be on helping CPOs build relationships with other cabinet-level leadership and develop innovative approaches to highlight the value of central procurement early and often in the state’s overall mission.
Register here.
Procurement Pulse is where you can find the most up-to-date information and research on best practices and emerging issues in state procurement. Some of the most recent topics covered on Procurement Pulse include another feature in the “A Day in the Life” series; an interesting piece on the impact of procurement on the economy of a state; the release of NASPO’s state preference repository; a feature on an Israel delegation’s recent visit to the D.C. procurement office; and a NASPO staff report on the 2019 Governing Summit.
Visit https://pulse.naspo.org/ to read all the blog posts and subscribe to receive weekly updates from The Pulse!
To streamline communications, you can now enjoy ValuePoint news and updates previously disseminated through the Compass as a regular feature in the Bulletin!
NASPO ValuePoint was recently named a 2019 EPEAT Purchaser Award recipient by the Green Electronics Council, which annually recognizes cities, states, federal government agencies and companies for their efforts to support sustainable IT products. ValuePoint’s Dugan Petty, pictured at left, accepted the honor on behalf of ValuePoint.
NASPO ValuePoint was proud to be a sponsor of the Texas Public Purchasing Association’s (TxPPA) recent Summer Momentum Conference in Corpus Christi. Pictured here is ValuePoint’s Voight Shealy, who shared the message of all ValuePoint has to offer with Texas procurement professionals.
Current Project Updates
Copiers, Printers, Related Devices and Managed Print Services: The Master Agreements are being negotiated by Colorado and awards will be available in August 2019.
Procurement Acquisition Support Services: The State of Hawaii has begun awarding new contracts for Procurement Acquisition Support Services. Two of the new contracts are now available on the NASPO ValuePoint website. These new contracts will provide states a wide variety of services to support their procurement offices. Here’s a video that provides an overview of this new portfolio for NASPO ValuePoint.
Equipment Rental Services: Several proposals were received by the State of Vermont and the Sourcing Team is currently busy evaluating proposals. Look for an award announcement later this summer.
Nationwide Vehicle Rental Services: The State of Oregon has begun awarding new contracts for Nationwide Vehicle Rental Services. The new Hertz agreement is now available, and Oregon is still in negotiations with Enterprise/National. These new contracts will replace the existing contracts, which are set to expire in October 2019.
Drones: The Commonwealth of Virginia is in the process of executing new awards for Drone Services. New contracts should be available later this summer for states to use.
Telephone Interpreter: The State of New Mexico is in the process of executing new agreements for On-Demand Remote Interpreting for both telephone and video (OPI and VRI) and Document Translation. This is an expansion of services from the current Telephone-Based Interpreters Portfolio.
Ground Maintenance Equipment: The Commonwealth of Virginia will soon release this RFP.
MMIS Claims: Lead state Montana and the sourcing team workgroups are reviewing and completing final requirements for this multi-element claims management RFP. The Lead state is targeting release of a confidential draft RFP for review by State Procurement Offices, State MMIS Directors, and the Center for Medicaid and Medicare services in late July. It is a good time for CPOs to talk with State MMIS Directors about their interest in executing Intents to Participate.
For more information contact:
Dugan Petty: dpetty@naspovaluepoint.org
Ted Fosket: tfosket@naspovaluepoint.org
or Tia Snyder: tsnyder@mt.gov
Cloud Refresh RFP: Lead state Utah met with newly awarded Cloud Solution Refresh supplier on June 20 for the supplier roll-out meeting. To date Utah has awarded 21 new master agreements covering at least one of the three NIST defined services models and has 12 remaining to execute. New master agreements will cover 29 new SaaS solutions, 13 PaaS solutions, and 12 IaaS CSPs. Master agreements and supplier landing pages are being added to Cloud Solutions on the NASPO ValuePoint page as they are executed.