FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT/Winners highlight best in purchasing
Twenty-five local governments were recently named recipients of the Achievement of Excellence in Procurement awards, jointly sponsored by the California Association of Public Purchasing Officers, Tracy, Calif., the National Association of Purchasing Management, Phoenix, Ariz., and the National Purchasing Institute, Reno, Nev. The program is designed to measure innovation, professionalism, productivity and leadership in procurement organizations.
Purchasing departments were honored for programs ranging from automation to web page development to adoption of procurement laws. In Denton County, Texas, for instance, the Purchasing Department received a perfect score in procurement automation because of its implementation of a system that includes electronic purchase orders; local area networks; direct electronic access by users for requisitioning and status inquiries; and the maintenance of electronic bidders lists to identify prospective bidders of a solicitation.
Tempe, Ariz., was recognized in the e-commerce category for its use of internet technologies and for developing a comprehensive web page. The web page allows vendors to obtain bidder registration forms online and return completed forms to the city through e-mail. Tempe also posts bid solicitations and a tabulation of bid results on its home page. Prospective bidders can directly download the solicitation.
The web page saves Tempe the expense of providing information manually in hard copy form. It also saves the city time that would have been used to respond to internal customer departments and public inquiries by phone.
Salt Lake County, Utah, excelled in the professional development category. Five of seven staff members in the county’s Purchasing Division hold leadership positions in purchasing associations, and three staff members, including the director, have obtained the Certified Purchasing Manager designation. In addition, the county has implemented a training program for purchasing staff that includes electronic commerce, contract administration and general public purchasing.
Tucson, Ariz., has adopted an ordinance based on the Model Procurement Code (MPC), developed by the American Bar Association, Chicago. The ordinance provides Tucson with policy guidance and statutory language for managing procurement, direction for the administrative and judicial resolution of controversies relating to public contracts, and a set of ethical standards governing public and private participants in the procurement process.
Adopting an MPC-based ordinance has helped Tucson develop a body of case law governing procurement. For example, when a legal issue arises, such as the need to determine bidder responsibility, officials can review the case law involving other state or local governments that adopted MPC-based legislation; often, the specific procurement statute or ordinance is identical to Tucson’s procurement law.
Other local government winners are: Cleveland Metroparks, Ohio; College Station, Texas; Denton, Texas; Fairfax County, Va.; Garland, Texas; Grand Prairie, Texas; Grapevine, Texas; Gwinnett County, Ga.; Lewisville, Texas; Loudoun County, Va.; Newport News, Va.; Orange County, Fla.; Plano, Texas; Richardson, Texas; Rockland County, N.Y.; San Antonio, Texas; Scottsdale, Ariz.; Tarrant County, Texas; Washoe County, Nev.; and Washoe County School District, Nev.
Additional information about the AEP program and the awards application are available on the Web at www.npi.purchasing.co.harris.tx.us and at www.ci.tucson. az.us/procure/npi.