Blog

Professional Development

Spread the Word–It’s Procurement Awareness Month! 

What is public procurement? You would not believe the range of responses I got when I asked a handful of my university classmates and peers this exact question. Admittedly, the responses were not pretty. They began with a “Uhhhh” and ended with “I have no idea.” Sometimes, I even just got a blank stare.  
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Agency Relations & Customer Service

New Year’s Resolution: Boosting Your Office’s Customer Service  

  high-quality customer service relationship with stakeholders is vital to organizational success, especially in public procurement. Providing exceptional customer service to all agency stakeholders is not only the right thing to do, but it builds new relationships and strengthens current relationships that will set your office up for success.
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Procurement Methodologies

4 Steps for Dealing with Price Volatility in Commodities 

It has been over a year and a half since Covid-19 hit our borders. As a procurement professional, you have had a front-row seat.  You’ve stepped up despite sometimes having little to no experience in procuring specialty items like masks and gowns.  Now, with new variants emerging, supply chain disruptions, and a shortage of goods and services (i.e., meats, cars, and employees), state procurement offices continue facing volatile commodity pricing. As we enter the holiday season, how can state procurement officials best navigate these uncertain markets?   Read more “4 Steps for Dealing with Price Volatility in Commodities “
Procurement Office Development

Student Recruitment: An Interview with Michelle Luong

We had a chance to speak with Michelle Luong, a senior at Penn State University, majoring in Supply Chain & Information Systems with a minor in Information Systems Management. She has completed one co-op at Kimberly-Clark and two summer internships at Bank of America (all within procurement) throughout her time at Penn State. We met  Michelle at this year’s NASPO Annual Conference, and we were so captivated by her insight and conversation that we interviewed her on student recruitment into public procurement. The following is part one of our conversation with Michelle on how state procurement offices can better recruit students.  

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