NIGP Buy Weekly - 09/05/2007 (Plain Text Version)View Graphical Version | Search back issues NIGP Seeks Representatives To Certification Council, Board of Examiners, and LES FoundationApplications Are Due September 21, 2007 NIGP is seeking qualified leaders who are interested in serving as a NIGP representative for one of four positions:
Tallahassee Chapter Makes HistoryA Success Story From The Tallahassee Area Chapter of NIGP
by Steven K. Updike, CPPB, FCPA, FCN, FCCM Government Operations Consultant Office of the Director Contract Management Unit Tallahassee, FL I would like to share a bit of a success story that involves the TACNIGP Annual Florida Governmental Purchasing Conference and Expo. Last year, we had a record number of 160 exhibitors and a whopping 73 attendees who actually walked through the exhibit hall. The fact that only a minimal number of our 250+ attendees elected to visit the exhibits was due to a Florida Commission on Ethics Ruling that was issued 10 days prior to our event. The ruling had to do with certain government employees being prohibited from taking "anything of value" including nominal value promotional items distributed by vendors at trade shows. Prior to this ruling, these promotional items were not considered as items of value and most agencies allowed them. Agencies reacted by prohibiting their staff from attending the Expo portion of our event until their legal staff could review the ruling and modify their agency ethics rules. This lack of attendance caused great dissatisfaction with our vendors.
Knowing that we were going to have to overcome great obstacles to produce our event this year, and to secure our ability to produce such events in the future, we worked with the Commission on Ethics to insure that every aspect of the event was 100% above board. We also invited the Commission to do two break-out sessions, which they entitled "Looking a Gift Horse in the Mouth". Next, we included vendors in all the conference sessions and meals to promote a better understanding of the government procurement and contracting process. We designed break-out sessions that were geared toward their success, including How to do business in Florida and becoming a CMBE. We ran One-on-One Sessions, which is a modified reverse trade show where we set aside 21 booths that were occupied by agency staff in three shifts, allowing the vendors to visit the agencies to talk One-on-One with the agencies they wanted extra time with. We hired Steve Gilliland for one of the two days and then worked to get the Chief Financial Officer of Florida Secretary of the Florida Department of Management Services (the agency that houses State Purchasing) to team up to do a "Town Hall" forum.
Historically, the individuals holding these two positions (the one responsible for spending the State's money and the one responsible for protecting it) were always at odds with one another, leaving the procurement and contracting staff at the state agency level caught in between. We were able to get them into the same venue to address our attendees for approximately 15 minutes each on topics of importance within our profession. They followed that with answering questions from the attendees for a little over an hour. During this time, they pledged to work together to resolve the differences of opinion between their respective agencies, to work together to modernize our procurement statutes, and to strengthen the Florida Whistle Blower's Laws. They agreed to include procurement professionals in the review and re-write of the statutes and the replacement of our State's e-Procurement System. They pledged to support training and certification and to work toward getting politicians OUT of the procurement process.
In my introduction of the "Town Hall" session, I stated that the event was historical. It seemed that the press thought so too. Not only did the Capital Bureau Political Editor show up himself, but he attended both days. To view the newspaper articles, visit www.tallahassee.com and search "DMS Chief Pans Purchasing Rules" and "Efficiency Partners".
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This 90-minute Webinar outlines the format and physical setting of the CPPB examination process. It provides a brief study review of several key procurement topics followed by a set of typical practice examination questions and tips on how to prepare for and take the CPPB examination. Presented By:
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NIGP Launches Third Knowledge Community: PREPPREP, Procurement's Response to Emergency Preparedness, allows member agencies to develop partnerships with other member agencies to assist in times of emergency. Your partner will be there to provide immediate prearranged assistance to public purchasing personnel during pre and post emergencies in order to ensure public health, safety and continuity of government.
The three NIGP Knowledge Communities - K-12, eProcurement and PREP - provide members with common interests an opportunity to connect and share pertinent information as well as best practices. This professional connection empowers professionals by increasing their effectiveness and ability to support the publics they serve. Member-exclusive programs include dedicated list serves, live webinars, and topical face-to-face conferences covering issues most relevant to the knowledge communities’ needs.
The Pulse of the Profession
In a timely presentation, "Marketing Your Worth and Value So People
U.S. Communities Searches For GreenThe U.S. Communities Government Purchasing Alliance is now offering participants the ability to search for environmentally sensitive products on-line. The search process allows purchasers to type in a product name, category or brand name of a product or product line. The search engine uses new technology to find the product in any U.S. Communities supplier catalogue that is searchable on-line. Once the search is completed, the purchaser can click on a link to the product in order to be linked to the U.S. Communities pricing and the supplier ordering systems The U.S. Communities program provides significant product offerings for green purchasing. Whether it’s office supplies, paper or toner, lighting and electrical, Energy Star rated appliances, electronic product environmental assessment tools (EPEAT) and computers, Green Seal certified janitorial supplies, recyclable carpet and flooring, recycled and non-toxic office and school furniture, environmentally sound playground and recreational equipment, hypoallergenic safety equipment, or environmentally sensitive roofing products and related services, the U.S. Communities team of suppliers provides it all at deep discounts. As an example, if a purchaser was seeking paper products that meet various environmental standards, they could enter the words “paper”. The number of search results will depend upon the commonality of the product line and the extent to which the U.S. Communities suppliers stock the items. This new service is tailored to compliment other green initiatives at U.S. Communities and its founding co-sponsors. It also is designed to fit into the various initiatives of U.S. Communities suppliers and partners. In the future, U.S. Communities will add search capacity for suppliers that are not on the U.S. Communities program in order to provide buyers with the broadest possible information for making environmentally sensitive purchasing decisions.
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