Choice. We believe in it. Join the Conversation. Driving Between the Lines: east to west NJPA s aim is to best serve our membership. It was brought to our attention that the procurement community desired a tool to address all things cooperative specifically analyzing and addressing components as cooperative agreements are considered. The Roadmap to a Cooperative Procurement Strategy was born in an NCPP committee. NCPP Executive Director Tammy Rimes and NJPA Membership Administrator Duff Erholtz unveiled the roadmap presentation at last year s NPI conference in Colorado Springs. Our newsletters will feature an analysis of one component in each publication and offer two external viewpoints from the procurement community that we have titled, From the East and the West. We find it helpful for our members to hear from other procurement professionals on best practices. We invited Carrie Woodell, chief procurement official for the Orange County Board of County Commissioners, and Craig Rader, purchasing agent for Sacramento County, to contribute their experiences and practices regarding each component of the cooperative purchasing roadmap. We will eventually analyze the cooperatives, the contracts they produce, and the final steps you should take before Inside This Issue... utilizing a contract. To start this educational series, we are going to analyze what you should consider internally within your own agency before you proceed. Here we go 1) Identify and understand your customers needs. Know where you are going and exactly what product will best serve their needs. 2) Understand your agency s legal authority to utilize cooperative agreements be knowledgeable about the procurement laws that govern your actions. Make sure that your legal counsel is familiar with cooperative purchasing and your agency s legal authority to utilize cooperative agreements. 3) Understand your agency s historical use of this tool. Has your agency successfully utilized cooperative purchasing in the past? 4) Does your board or council have to approve the use of a cooperative agreement? Do they need to approve each time, or do they do a blanket approval? 5) When considering a cooperative agreement, do you need to consider diversity participation? Social goals? Local preference? Understand the political landscape, and address this issue before you proceed. East meets West Q&A... 2 Where We ve Been... 4 NCPP Welcomes Tammy Rimes... 3 Upcoming Tradeshows... 5 Legislative Season is Underway... 3
QUESTION: Before utilizing any cooperative agreement, what do you consider? WEST EAST Craig Rader, CPPO, CPPB Craig Rader is the purchasing agent for Sacramento County, where he has been employed for over 20 years. He has been the county purchasing agent since 2006. In addition to his public sector procurement experience, Craig also has 10 years of experience in the private sector at several firms, including a Department of Defense sub-contractor, IT supply company, and a micrographics services company. Craig Rader is a Certified Public Purchasing Officer (CPPO) and Certified Professional Public Buyer (CPPB), has an AA degree in purchasing and materials management and two purchasing certificates. He is an active member of several procurement associations and is immediate past president of the California Association of Public Procurement Officials (CAPPO), the nation s oldest procurement association. Originally from Sacramento, Craig spent the early years of his career in Silicon Valley, then returned to Sacramento in 1988. Craig has a wife (Angela) and daughter (Katelyn), is an avid runner (having completed two marathons and many halfmarathons), and spends his free time enjoying craft beers and traveling with his family. ANSWER: I consider the following before utlizing a cooperative agreement: Have we purchased this commodity before? Do we already have an existing contract in place? What is our estimated annual spend on this commodity? Are services needed to complement the commodity purchased? What is the level of effort and expense to formally bid this commodity? Are there multiple cooperative agreements for this commodity? What is the local or regional climate for this commodity and does it affect any of our social or diversity programs? How does pricing compare to any historic benchmarks? Carrie Woodell, MPA, CPPO, CFCM, C.P.M., CPPB, FCCM Carrie serves as the chief procurement official for the Orange County Board of County Commissioners. She oversees over $500 million in annual spending, inclusive of goods, services, professional, and construction services. Carrie is the former president of the Florida Association of Public Procurement Officials (FAPPO) and the Central Florida Chapter of NIGP. She serves on NIGP s Talent Council as well as the Board of Examiners for the Universal Public Procurement Certification Council. Carrie received the Anne Deatherage Meritorious Service Award from NIGP in 2014 and was named the Professional Manager of the Year by NIGP in 2012. Carrie holds a Master s degree in public administration from the University of Central Florida. ANSWER: Although the County s Procurement Ordinance extends authority to the chief procurement official to purchase goods and/or services through cooperative purchasing, we have a responsibility to identify the proper contracting mechanism to meet our customer s requirements. Because Orange County has a robust certification program to support minorityand women-owned business enterprises, we are committed to supporting social goals to the greatest extent possible. This requires Procurement to carefully balance the needs of our customers with county programs that support business development. While the county does not have a local preference program, we have a responsibility to ensure that the business community in the surrounding geographic area has ample opportunity to compete for county requirements. Orange County has successfully utilized cooperative contracts in the past, when it has been determined to be advantageous to the county to do so. Page 2
Tammy Rimes Legislative Season is Underway The legislative season is in full swing, with many states legislatures preparing to complete their work in the coming weeks and months. NJPA s Government Relations staff continues to actively monitor and tackle legislation across the country that may affect the ability of NJPA members to utilize cooperative purchasing. To date, nearly 4,000 bills relating to procurement have been introduced in all states. More specifically, NJPA has tracked nearly 500 bills in 36 states that may affect cooperative purchasing. NCPP Welcomes Tammy Rimes as New Executive Director Building from a successful educational webinar series that featured the Who s Who of public procurement leaders from across the nation, the National Cooperative Procurement Partners (NCPP) Association continues to expand its role as the Association for Cooperative Procurement. With cooperative partners such as E&I, HGACBuy, NJPA, National IPA, and NPPGov and a growing membership of Strategic Suppliers, NCPP s efforts are expanding through active committees creating educational content, legislative advocacy, and focused efforts in areas such as construction and installation services as they relate to cooperative procurement. As legislators across the country work toward adjournment, NJPA will continue to monitor legislation affecting NJPA members. NJPA will advocate against any bills that may prevent members legal access to cooperative purchasing. NJPA will also support any bill that may increase access to cooperative purchasing contracts. Legislative monitoring and advocacy is one of the many services and benefits provided to NJPA members. If your organization would like to learn more NJPA s Government Relations functions, please contact Dan Listug at dan.listug@njpacoop.org or Bill Otto at bill.otto@njpacoop.org. Last month, Tammy Rimes, MPA, the former purchasing agent for the City of San Diego, took the helm as the executive director. Rimes states, My hopes are to leverage my procurement background and knowledge of sitting in that purchasing chair to assist in developing educational tools and activities to promote cooperative procurement where it makes sense and can help governments better serve their customers and community residents. Working collaboratively with other procurement associations will be an overarching goal as NCPP continues to grow. For more information, or to download a copy of the latest Road Map to a Cooperative Procurement Strategy, please visit http:// www.nationalcooperativeprocurementpartners.org/. Page 3
Where we ve been... National Institute of Government Procurement NIGP NIGP has over 70 chapters around the continent, and NJPA attends many of its chapter events. This conferences season started in Portsmouth, Virginia, in February at the VAGP Virginia Association of Governmental Procurement conference. It s no surprise that California and its political subdivisions have been the greatest annual user of our contracts over the last five-year period, as it s the most populous state and boasts the seventh-largest economy in the world. However, Virginia, the 12th-most populous state, has been the second-most-frequent user over that same timeframe. We interacted with the 120-plus attendees along with sponsors and vendors while we researched why Virginia finds so much value in our cooperative agreements. Our travels also landed us in Hot Springs, Arkansas, for the Arkansas NIGP chapter event. As first-time attendees, we were impressed with the engagement from the 100+ in attendance and the questions they posed. Arkansas ranks 32nd in state population, but is 12th in usage of our awarded contracts. It felt like every attendee stopped by our booth, and we either thanked them for being such good customers, or they thanked us for helping them serve their agency. We will be back, Arkansas! Our last NIGP chapter trip was in Peoria, Illinois, for the spring IAPPO conference. The Illinois Association of Public Procurement Officials gathered over 120 public purchasing officials and a plethora of sponsors and vendors. Organizers did an excellent job of integrating the two throughout the conference agenda and networking events. Jim Smith and his volunteer staff made sure everyone was taken care of, and all obstacles were overcome or anticipated and addressed ahead of time! NJPA presented a professional development session on the NCPP s Road Map to Creating a Cooperative Procurement Strategy. We d like to offer to present our session that discusses and analyzes all things cooperative purchasing to any procurement group. CAPPO 2017 The theme for California Association of Public Procurement Officials 100th annual conference was Raising the Standard, which the conference certainly achieved. Professional development sessions featured presenters from all over the country, including Beth Fleming, Rick Grimm, Harold Hal Good, Jack Pellegrino, Tammy Rimes, Michael Asner, and dozens more! More than 400 attendees made this year the largest CAPPO conference ever. Additionally, there were 76 first-time attendees, which shows continuous growth for the organization. CAPPO s volunteer employees did a spectacular job of making sure that the attendees, supporting vendors, and sponsors were well taken care of. The events were well organized and always on schedule. A special shout out to Michael Derr, Monterey County; Dave Wetmore, Contra Costa Community College District; and Concepcion Gayotin, city of Stockton, for all they did to make sure the conference went smoothly with capacity attendance and vendor support. 2017 marks NJPA s ninth year of supporting this excellent procurement group at the Platinum level sponsorship, and next year in Palm Springs will be our 10th. If you are a California public procurer in search of tools and resources to assist you as you serve your public agency, you should affiliate with the CAPPO organization. Here is a link to its website http://www.cappo.org. Page 4
Supporting our Members SERVING GOVERNMENT AND EDUCATION Cooperative Purchasing Solutions NJPA is dedicated to supporting and recognizing those in the procurement profession. Please see below for a list of where we will be in the upcoming months we d love to say hello, visit with you and answer any questions. Thank you for your dedication to bettering your profession. We look forward to seeing you at an upcoming event, exchanging a phone call, and communicating with you in our newsletter. May 17-19: OPPA, Pendleton, Oregon June 4-7: NYSASBO, Lake Placid, New York OPPA is hosting the regional training and vendor showcase for NIGP chapters from Oregon, Idaho, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii. Join us May 17-19 in Pendleton, Oregon! May 24-27: FAPPO, Orlando, Florida NJPA will be in Lake Placid June 4-7 for NYSASBO s 69th Annual Education Summit and Expo. We are proud and humbled to be a Gold sponsor at this event. We are at booth #24 and look forward to being back! June 7-9: Lonestar NIGP, Austin, Texas FAPPO is hosting its 50th Annual Conference and Tradeshow this year! Approximately 250 attendees will be at the Rosen Centre Hotel in Orlando, May 24-27. This is our x time attending and we look forward to returning once again. Please stop at booth #513 to say hello! The San Antonio Public Purchasing Association (SAPPA) hosts its annual conference for all the Texas NIGP chapters. We look forward to seeing the 120-plus procurement professionals and supporting this great event. May 29-31: CAMA, Gatineau, Que- June 14-16: TXPPA, Galveston, Texas This year CAMA is being hosted in Gatineau, Quebec, from May 29-31 at the Hilton Lac-Leamy. This year s theme is Exploring What s Ahead for Local Government. See us in booth #30. June 1-4: FCM, Ottawa, Ontario As the annual sponsor of TxPPA, we look forward to being at TxPPA s summer momentum conference in Galveston, Texas, from June 14-16. Stop by to say hello! As always, please feel welcome to contact us if you have any questions or would like to share your feedback. Please contact Duff Erholtz at 218-894-5490 or Katie Alba, 218-895-4167 our membership relations and communications specialists. Page 5 Canada celebrates 150 years of Confederation! Shaping Canada s Future is the theme for FCM s 2017 Annual Conference and Tradeshow. Find us in booth #609 to learn more about NJPA.