Tag: National Association of State Procurement Officials

Contract Administration & Management

The Care and Keeping of Contracts 

For public procurement professionals whose job duties include contract administration, it can be tempting to leave contracts alone unless – or more accurately: until – there is an issue. Increasingly, however, procurement offices are recognizing the value of utilizing contract administration best practices to improve their relationships with suppliers and increase the value of their contracts. 

Read more “The Care and Keeping of Contracts “

Professional Development

Everything is NOT Awesome – Difficult Customer Situations

Imagine this – a state agency has come to you with frustrations about a lack of communication from the central procurement office. They have not heard back from the office in over three days, and they are frustrated that they do not know what is going on with their solicitation. This is just one example of a frustrated customer situation you might run into in your operations. When these unhappy customers arise, there are steps you can  take in order to recover from a bad customer service experience. Read more “Everything is NOT Awesome – Difficult Customer Situations”
Solicitation Methods

Black Swans: Anticipate Your Supply Chain Reactions

In a report released in late April , IBM’s Institute for Business Value weighs in on how organizations can reduce vulnerabilities through smarter supply chains. As supply chains start to react to the pandemic and deploy permanent changes in their processes, how can procurement officials brace for the change?
In this post we explore what changes supply chains are anticipated to make, and what those changes mean for public procurement officials. Read more “Black Swans: Anticipate Your Supply Chain Reactions”
Pulse Podcast

Public Procurement During COVID: Parts 1 & 2

NASPO is proud to present our new podcast, NASPO Pulse Podcast!
Every other week, tune in right here to Procurement Pulse to hear the latest podcast. Each episode is hosted by NASPO’s own Media Production Project Manager, Kevin Minor who will be interviewing NASPO leadership and staff, state central procurement officers, and subject matter experts.

Click HERE to download the new episodes!

Read more “Public Procurement During COVID: Parts 1 & 2”

Protests

To Protest a Bid, or not to Protest?

While not a Shakespearean existential inquiry, a vendor who did not win a competitive bid for a public contract may be faced with a critical question: “Should I file a bid protest to challenge this award decision, or not?”

Bidders who have standing want to exercise their right to protest to correct alleged improprieties. Sometimes vendors file what some would call “frivolous,” or “sore loser” protests, after the fact, when some of the questions could have been addressed before a decision was made to award the contract. Read more “To Protest a Bid, or not to Protest?”

NASPO Events & Education

Academic Partner Perspective: Kelly Lynch


Written by Olivia Hook Frey

NASPO’s academic partnerships are paramount to our higher education initiatives. Without these impressive partners at colleges and universities across the country, none of this programming would be possible. When we started this endeavor in 2016, we set out to build relationships with top-tier Supply Chain Management Programs and faculty, because we believe Supply Chain Management is the degree program that most closely aligns with the work our members do in state procurement. Since then, we have had some majors wins with each partner. Over the past three years, our goals with each academic partner have morphed. We have discovered the different specialties of each partner.

Read more “Academic Partner Perspective: Kelly Lynch”