Uncategorized Bulletins
Spring 2020 Prep Course
enrollment is now open
Registration is now open for Procurement U’s CPPB and CPPO Spring 2020 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 February 17, 2020 for the Spring 2020 courses.
Procurement U’s Spring prep courses run March 1 to May 3, 2020. These convenient, web-based, instructor-led courses are 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.
Not sure if certification is right for you? Unsure which certification to choose? Check out all the information available on Procurement U’s certification page and download a copy of NASPO’s new Benefits of Certification brochure.
Applications for 2020 NASPO
internships open Nov. 1
By mid-September, interns from NASPO academic partner schools completed their positions with 11 state procurement offices across the nation. This is the third year of the NASPO internship program and the largest pool of student interns to date. Sixteen students from academic partner schools worked in 11 central purchasing offices, from Alaska to Connecticut and Texas to Wisconsin.
Although our summer 2019 program just wrapped up, we are already thinking about summer 2020. There will be 12 internship grants available to central procurement offices, and the process will begin in November 1, 2019. Check out this video for all the details!
Deadline for reimbursement requests
The deadline for all 2019 reimbursement requests is Friday, December 6, end of day. Here is where you can find the forms for both Professional Development and Travel Reimbursement requests. If you have any questions, please contact finance@naspo.org.
Procurement U hosts third training
coordinators conference
On October 9-11 in Madison, Wisconsin, Procurement U held the third iteration of the State Training Coordinators Conference (STCC), which provided an opportunity for attendees to learn how to best leverage the training and education of Procurement U to advance training in their home states. Attendees were able to share peer-to-peer solutions, identify curricula needs, learn about instructional methodology and exchange training resources.
The goal of STCC this year was to facilitate the sharing of materials and best practices between state trainers. To help with this facilitation, the opening of the conference provided a networking session, where state trainers shared best practices and ideas for creating learning using the resources in their state to guide the conversation. The resources collected at STCC have been compiled in one place and are available to attendees for future use.
Also, for first time at STCC, an outside speaker was brought in for the opening general session. The speaker, Julie Dirksen, is an independent consulting and instructional designer with more than 15 years of experience creating highly interactive e-learning experiences for clients from Fortune 500 companies and technology startups, to grant-funded research initiatives.
STCC saw representation from 35 states with 65 attendees in total. Initial feedback from the conference has been positive overall with 97 percent of respondents indicating they were satisfied or very satisfied with the conference. With this feedback in mind, NASPO hopes to continue to bring this high-quality professional development to our members at future events.
Law Institute recap
The 2019 NASPO State Procurement Law Institute welcomed 117 attendees representing 42 states to Madison, Wisconsin, on October 7-9. This year marked the sixth time attorneys engaged in public procurement law gathered to further their knowledge of legal issues impacting state central procurement.
The conference opened with a general session on cybersecurity with a focus on what attorneys supporting the procurement office can do to safeguard the state and its citizens. Attorneys also participated in discussions and received information on the ABA Model Procurement Code, including potential changes and updates to the code, and received an overview of NASPO ValuePoint and IT terms and conditions. Other sessions at the Law Institute covered the topics of negotiations, ethics, protests and identifying anti-trust violations.
The two-day conference closed with a session on wellbeing, providing attorneys with practical ideas for coping with the large workloads and mental energy required to be a good counsel to their clients.
While conference feedback is still being collected, respondents have indicated a high level of satisfaction with the 2019 Law Institute’s programming. Stay tuned for the date and location of the 2020 event!
Don’t forget to complete the 2019
member feedback survey
Each year, NASPO gathers feedback from members as we plan for next year’s programs and services. The 2019 Member Survey is an opportunity for state procurement staff, honorary, life and associate members to tell us how we are doing. All responses are anonymous and will help us understand how we can better support you. Please complete this Member Survey by November 1st. Follow the steps on the last page of the survey to enter a drawing for a chance to win a free Procurement U online course.
PLEASE NOTE that feedback from CPOs is being collected through a separate survey. We kindly ask that CPOs not respond to the member survey to avoid duplicative responses.
Pulse updates
Procurement Pulse is your source for detailed information about the programs, services and opportunities important to NASPO members. You can sign up to receive weekly updates from Procurement Pulse and have the latest on emerging issues and hot topics in state procurement delivered straight to your inbox.
Some of the most recent posts on Procurement Pulse include an article on the benefits of professional certification; an update on NASPO’s internship program and the opening of 2020 applications; another feature in our “A Day in the Life” series, this one spotlighting the work of Oklahoma Procurement Training Coordinator Louise Terry; a piece on the value of strategic partnerships; and an announcement on the availability of the new NASPO Mentorship Toolkit.
Visit https://pulse.naspo.org to read all the blog posts and subscribe to receive weekly updates from The Pulse!