Overview of Public Procurement

Procurement is an essential function for all governments and serves to provide service that connects public sector operations with private sector suppliers, contractors, and providers. High performing procurement functions not only focus on compliance, but also support strategic initiatives related to efficiency, risk management, competition, transparency, accessibility, and fairness. Unfortunately not all organizations utilize procurement to its full strategic potential. In this course, instructors will focus on the role of procurement professionals and how each can become a trusted resource, contribute to strategic decisions, promote effective use of resources, and build trust in the organization. The sessions will also stress the importance of procurement and finance collaboration.

Topics covered include:

• Developing procurement policies
• Use of purchase requisitions and purchase orders
• Contract management
• Purchasing cards
• Competitive procurement
• Use of cooperative procurement
• Managing an evaluation team
• Procurement ethics

Those who successfully complete this seminar should be able to:

• Define key procurement terms and provide an overview of the procurement function
• Understand the basic principles of public procurement
• Learn to identify and correct common procurement myths and misconceptions
• Develop strategies to better integrate procurement and finance
• Explore procurement ethics and how to apply commonly held values to everyday situations
• Review components of a procurement policy and best practices for common procurement processes
• Understand technologies available to assist public procurement processes
• Identify how to apply a more strategic role for procurement

Professionals interested in strategies and best practices for public procurement.

This course is taught by finance officers and other industry experts.