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Highlights in the June Issue:
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Upcoming Events and Webinars
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Conferences
July 12-14, 2015 (Rapid City, SD)
Webinars
Green Purchasing Webinars:
EPP Specs for Paper, Toner,
Office Supplies
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Colleagues and NASPO Members,
NASPO conference season is in full swing! The How to Market to State Governments Meeting kicked things off at the end of March and we've had one successful conference after another since then.
In May, the Eastern Regional Conference took place in DC and Williamsburg, Virginia hosted the Southern Regional Conference. We extend a huge thank you to all the regional planning teams. These regional meetings kicked off what is sure to be a powerful new NASPO resource: Procurement University. As always, NASPO offered an optional day of professional development training in connection with the regional conferences and we're very excited that this year's trainings are being managed by NASPO Procurement University!
NASPO leadership and staff evaluate your feedback after each event and we continuously work to refine our conferences in order to provide the best possible experience for all attendees.
NASPO held a very successful roundtable with NASCA (National Association of State Chief Administrators) last month. As a result of the event which was facilitated by Leadership for a Networked World at Harvard, our organizations are publishing a joint report on shared services and e-procurement highlighting Ohio Shared Services and Virginia's e-procurement system.
A NASPO Governance Task Force, led by Jim Butler (CA) and working closely with NASPO's attorney, has brought several recommendations to the Board on ways to revise our bylaws in order to better match current practices and allow for flexibility in policy-making. The Board is currently reviewing the recommendations and believes this to be a positive step toward refining our structure.
More NASPO news is detailed in the articles in this month's Bulletin. Thank you for your readership and participation in NASPO!
Deb Damore
NASPO President
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Jonathan Rifkin presented at the Summit last month
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NASPO Members and Staff Attend the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council's 2015 Summit
The Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council (SPLC) recently held its annual Summit in Seattle, Washington to discuss best practices and share knowledge around sustainable purchasing. The Summit included over 200 representatives from non-profit, private and public organizations that are all involved in sustainable purchasing.
Jonathan Rifkin, NASPO member and Sustainable Purchasing Program Manager for the City of Washington, DC, participated in a session on "Maximizing the Effectiveness of Your Sustainable Purchasing Program." Rifkin's presentation, "Developing and Implementing a Sustainable Purchasing Program in Washington DC," described the city's efforts to prioritize product and service categories, specification guidance and tracking sustainable purchasing. Rikfin also serves a member of the SPLC Board of Directors and is the vice chair for the NASPO Green Purchasing Committee.
NASPO was also represented by Policy Analyst Matt Oyer and state representatives from California, Missouri and Connecticut.
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Have State Governments Moved to the Cloud?
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Krista S. Ferrell, NASPO's Director of Strategic Programs, represented NASPO on the National Association of Chief Information Officers' (NASCIO) IT Modernization Committee call in June to present the summary findings of the Emerging Issues Committee's recently released infographic entitled "State Government Practices for Cloud Implementation."
The informal presentation included challenges faced by state procurement offices in implementing cloud contracts, strategies being undertaken by the states to overcome these challenges, and ways Chief Information Officials and Chief Procurement Officials can work together to achieve success. Feedback shared by the committee included: time challenges when transferring contracts to new vendors; renewal and true-up concerns; and flexibility to decrease or cancel pilot programs without penalty. Additional discussion included security issues and the increases in cost associated with increased security requirements.
For more information on cloud procurement practices, please visit the NASPO website.
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NASPO Regional Conferences
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May was a busy month around NASPO, with both the Eastern and Southern Regions holding their 2015 Regional Conferences! Each region has its own unique challenges, priorities and characteristics and these regional events offer an opportunity to explore those issues with peers who "get it." It is not often that two regions meet so closely to one another, but it provided an excellent snapshot of just what makes each region unique and interesting!
In early May, over 65 procurement professionals from the Eastern Region converged on our nation's capital for the Eastern Regional Conference. Sessions on negotiation strategies, benchmarking tools, green purchasing and IT procurement lead to great discussions in and outside of the meeting room. Those conversations turned even more valuable as a visit to a Washington institution, the Old Ebbitt Grill, and an impromptu bus tour of the National Mall highlighted the importance of the public service work NASPO members do. Every step, every moment and every conversation was purposeful and participants made the most of their very brief time together!
Just a few weeks later, Colonial Williamsburg was host to the almost 80 delegates from Southern region states participating in the conference. In addition to the much more laid-back venue, the Southern Regional Conference agenda focused quite a bit on collaborative approaches to procurement issues and challenges. From exploring puzzles as a creative procurement education strategy, to consideration of potential cooperative procurement, and to analysis of supplier relationship case studies, Southern Conference participants carefully and thoughtfully shared their ideas with one another - and had fun doing it - in almost every session.
Even though the approach may have been different, what was most valuable to conference participants seems to be the same regardless of what region they came from; both Southern and Eastern conference participants relished the opportunity to learn from the successes, challenges and experiences of their fellow NASPO members! As one participant noted: "Forging a professional friendship with others in the procurement field provides such excellent sources for help and builds a good solid foundation of knowledge." NASPO is honored to provide this opportunity to members and we look forward to the upcoming Midwestern and Western Regional Conferences later this year!
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| Procurement U Provides Training at Southern Regional Conference |
At last month's Southern Regional Conference in Williamsburg, Virginia an optional training was offered to members through Procurement University entitled, "Current Issues in State Procurement." The 6 hour training, which was also offered at the recent Eastern Regional Conference, focused upon large scale IT procurements. This included ERP, eProcurement, and Cloud Hosted Systems. Instructor Adam Manne, the Chief of Procurement Operations for Prince William County in Virginia, provided an interactive and informative course delving into these emerging topics.
As part of the training, Manne incorporated content from the "NASPO State and Local Government Procurement: A Practical Guide," case studies, research papers and other relevant resources. The course was attended by sixteen procurement professionals from six state procurement offices. Attendees engaged in discussions on several topics including ERP implementation, cloud procurement strategies and the role of social media. Having representatives from different states helped facilitate a dialogue on the various challenges faced in regard to IT procurement and the best practices being utilized to deal with them.
Throughout the training the participants were asked to complete assessment questions that required them to apply what they were learning to their own projects and job duties. At the end of the day they then shared and discussed their responses in small groups. This activity provided a review of some of the key points for each topic and a discussion of how they could incorporate what they learned into their own work.
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Optional Training Day at Midwestern Regional Conference
"Current Issues in Public Procurement" is slated for the optional NASPO funded training day offered at the Midwestern Regional Conference. Hosted through the NASPO Procurement University and targeted for novice to intermediate procurement staff and managers, this training will explore trends in the pervasiveness of information technology and its implications, innovative technology sourcing and the expansion of enterprise resource planning systems. Focused on planning, bidding, and managing large-scale projects such as ERP systems, the principles are easily transferrable to non-IT projects as well.
The NASPO funded optional training day at the Midwestern Regional Conference will be held on Wednesday, July 15, 2015 from 9:00 am - 4:00 pm. Separate registration is not required. The training qualifies on an hour for hour contact basis for up to 6 UPPCC Contact Hours.
For more information on Procurement University or the regional trainings, please contact Krista S. Ferrell, Director of Strategic Programs at kferrell@naspo.org.
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State Green Purchasing Profiles Released
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As part of the NASPO Green Purchasing Committee's (GPC) mission to identify and share best practices in environmentally preferable (green) purchasing the committee has recently developed the State Green Purchasing Profiles. The comprehensive profiles highlight the green purchasing activities of each state. The profiles were developed from the results of a survey sent out to each state in April. The survey and the design of the profiles were created by members of the Green Purchasing Committee and the NASPO staff.
The profiles can be easily navigated using the State Green Profile Map found on the NASPO website home page:
www.naspo.org.
The profiles allow you to compare green contracts, statues, staff allocations, organizational structures, and other key information across multiple states. You will also find links to each state's green purchasing program website (if applicable), primary staff contact information, and a list of any webinars or presentations the state has conducted.
The GPC envisions that the profiles will be updated and added to regularly. Additionally, if your state did not have the opportunity to fill out the survey and would like to have a state profile created, or if any information on your profile is incorrect, please contact GPC Staff Lead Matt Oyer, moyer@naspo.org.
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Resources for Cloud and As A Service Procurements
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 Looking for resources on Cloud or As-A-Service Procurements? The Center for Digital Government released a best practice guide built upon the collaborative work of state and local government and industry executives.
Access the guide here.
As part of our stakeholder webinar series, NASPO held a webinar on Optimizing Value: Xaas in the Public Cloud earlier this year.
View the webinar here.
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It Takes a Team to Write NASPO's Practical Guide
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 No matter if you are a seasoned public official or new to the procurement field, NASPO's flagship publication, "State and Local Government Procurement: A Practical Guide" is a tool of first resort for many procurement officials. A task force of volunteers worked from January to July 2014 writing, editing and revising the textbook, and the new edition was published in January 2015. This is the second article in a series highlighting how NASPO members came together to write the Practical Guide.
Ron Bell, NASPO honorary member, first got involved in the update efforts when Dianne Lancaster (OR), the chair of the Practical Guide Task Force, asked him to share his expertise. Bell and other task force members previously contributed work on a number of NASPO briefing and research papers, and these resources were then used to help update the Practical Guide. In particular, Bell drafted Chapter 19, a new addition on e-procurement using his expertise from his experience with eProcurement at the Commonwealth of Virginia. Bell also served as the lead editor for all chapters.
"The Practical Guide is an essential reference tool in understanding the procurement processes and emerging issues of state and local government and is one of the key documents of the procurement professional body of knowledge," said Bell. "It should be part of a procurement professional's library and will be especially useful to those just starting their procurement careers with state and local government. But it doesn't stop there. It is necessary reading for general government executives that interact with state and local government procurement and for existing and new suppliers seeking to stay current on how to conduct business with state and local government."
Bell noted that the Practical Guide was not intended to be all encompassing, but designed to provide substantial information on state and local government procurement processes and those current emerging issues encountered by chief procurement professionals affecting the integrity of state and local government procurement. He expressed his thanks to all of the NASPO members that worked very hard to make the 2015 edition a reality.
Go here to order your hard copy. The Practical Guide is also now available as an e-book through iTunes or Kobo!
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UPPCC Application Deadlines and Exam Dates
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A reminder for anyone interested in obtaining UPPCC Certification, the deadline to submit the application for the fall examination is July 13th, 2015. For more information on the examination process visit http://www.uppcc.org/. For helpful exam preparation tools check out the
Certification Webapge on the NASPO website.
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Committee and Work Group News
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 Don't forget to submit your nomination for the 2015 NASPO Cronin Awards. The deadline is quickly approaching and all submissions are due by Tuesday, July 28th. Submission guidelines and nomination form can be found online at www.naspo.org/2015Cronin.
The top five finalists will be invited to participate in the NASPO Annual Conference, September 27-30 in Norfolk, VA to present on their submission to their peers at the Cronin Luncheon.
Please direct questions regarding the NASPO Cronin Awards to Kristy Howard at khoward@naspo.org.
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You can update your community notifications settings to receive emails in Real Time or in Daily Digest form. You can update your notification settings for each community you are a part of by visiting your profile page which can be accessed at the top right-hand corner of the screen. Go to "Profile" by selecting the down arrow next to your profile picture, then select the "My Account" drop down menu and then select "Community Notifications."
If you have difficulties navigating the NASPO Network or have questions on how to gain access to the NASPO Network, please contact Kristy Howard at khoward@naspo.org.
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Buffum receives Excellence in Government Award
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Mississippi State University's director of procurement and contracts and NASPO Honorary Member Don Buffum was recognized last month by Governor Phil Bryant for dedicated public service with excellence, innovation and integrity in his areas of expertise.
Buffum received the Excellence in Local and District Government Award.
Read the full article here.
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Get to Know the NASPO Staff
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Sarah Razor, NASPO Senior Policy Analyst
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Name: Sarah Razor
Title: NASPO Senior Policy Analyst
Year started at NASPO: June 2014
Brief description of current role: My role is to staff the Strategic Intergovernmental Relations Committee (SIRC), as well as provide policy analysis, research and manage special projects.
Education: BA in Integrated Strategic Communications from the University of Kentucky,
Master in Public Administration from Eastern Kentucky University Fun Facts: I love local history and writing. In 2013, I authored a local historical coffee table style book, Chevy Chase Inn: Tall Tales and Cold Ales from Lexington's Oldest Bar, which was published by Smiley Pete Publishing. I am currently working on a new book about the history of Good Shepherd Episcopal Church.
Most memorable NASPO event so far: My first annual conference was excellent! Burlington, Vermont was beautiful (and it's home to my favorite ice cream - Ben & Jerry's). It was very nice to meet our members face to face.
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