Procurement Excellence Network

PEN team members Hope Patterson and Amanda Jaffe recently attended Washington Procurement Connect, a full-day conference to help small, diverse, and veteran-owned businesses better understand procurement and connect them with government procurement professionals. Amanda & Hope presented two sessions on writing results-driven RFPs and actively managing contracts. They were also excited to meet many new PEN members in person! Thanks to the Washington State Department of Enterprise Services for inviting us to attend this innovative event to strengthen the connection between business and government in Washington!

Is your government looking to develop a contract management plan for an upcoming high-priority solicitation or an existing contract with performance challenges? If so, we encourage you to apply for PEN’s new, interactive multi-session learning opportunity: Active Contract Management Bootcamp! This bootcamp is an exclusive opportunity for up to 10 governments/agencies to design a strategic contract management plan for a key contract. Through this bootcamp, we hope to increase exposure, enthusiasm, and adoption of Active Contract Management strategies across various jurisdictions and agencies, shifting the perspective and reframing what effective contract management can look like in the public sector. Interested in applying? Learn more and apply here: https://lnkd.in/esHiyA4j 📨 Application Deadline: October 25, 2024 ⏱ Timing: This five session bootcamp is scheduled to run between January – April 2025. 🙋♂️ Eligibility: All PEN members are welcome to apply. We look forward to receiving your applications! #procurement #contractmanagement #procurementexcellence #PENevents

Our colleagues Elena Hoffnagle and Isabel Garcia were honored to attend the fifth anniversary celebration of National League of Cities' City Inclusive Entrepreneurship (CIE) program in Kansas City, MO last week. The event showcased the incredible work that hundreds of cities across the country have done to advance entrepreneurship and help more small business access the valuable government contracts that can help them grow.    As program experts, our team supported the CIE program by convening cohorts of cities to work together on implementing vendor diversity strategies. Each city received dedicated coaching and technical assistance from our team as well as access to funding and other resources from NLC.    We are so proud of the accomplishments of these cities, who launched vendor surveys, designed new outreach events, and set new goals for contracting with small businesses!

We were thrilled to see our colleague Elena Hoffnagle featured in Bloomberg Cities’ article on problem-based procurements alongside PEN member cities such as City of Boston, City of Long Beach, City of Philadelphia, City of Kitchener, and City of New York. If you feel like your government typically writes solicitations with very prescriptive specifications, try flipping the script by identifying a problem or challenge without specifying what the ideal solution looks like – you may be surprised by the creative proposals you receive! And if you’re a PEN member, you can reach out to us at any time for a coaching call to help you get started developing your problem statement.   Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/dC-WxPeE

If you're looking for a new role in the public procurement space, check out the job postings below:   ⚖ Equity in County Contracts Program Manager | Los Angeles County, CA | https://lnkd.in/eneM9xFs 🌈 Central Purchasing & Contracts Administrator | City and County of Honolulu, HI | https://lnkd.in/eqmEhnkf 🏖 Procurement Specialist III | City of Virginia Beach, VA | https://lnkd.in/er4zw7aN 👨💻 Procurement Officer | City of Civic Center, CO | https://lnkd.in/ecS2Euk5 💲 Fiscal and Contracting Coordinator | City of Pittsburgh, PA | https://lnkd.in/eX2fjQHs 📊 Manager of Purchasing and Contracts | City of Aurora, CO | https://lnkd.in/eeWnARkb   #JobBoard #GovernmentJobs #ProcurementJobs #JobOpportunity

Do you have experience creating user-friendly, results-driven forms, such as vendor certification forms or contract forms? If so, check out this exciting opportunity: Open Contracting Partnership is working with the City of Boston to make its public procurement more equitable and accessible. As part of this effort, they are seeking an experienced designer or firm to redesign the city's contract forms to create a set of professional and user-friendly assets. This would be a great fit for a graphic designer with user research experience who is excited to work with cities. The work would offer an inside view into government operations and have significant impact in improving how people experience government! For more information or to submit an application, click here: https://lnkd.in/dJ5P6-pK

Last Friday’s PEN training, Overcoming Resistance to Change, tackled the thorny topic of change management and provided insights to help governments embark on their own procurement reforms. This interactive session highlighted success stories and advice from peer governments, including tips to develop a change management plan, communicate effectively with key stakeholders, and diagnose underlying reasons behind resistance to change. In case you missed it, below are three promising strategies to address common challenges when implementing change in public procurement: Strategy #1: Be sure to understand the impact of the change on your internal and external stakeholders. A formal change management plan, such as the one below shared by Halifax, can help changemakers anticipate resistance by outlining the processes necessary to implement effective change. Successful change management plans often include a vision statement, a definition of project success, and an overall implementation schedule. Strategy #2: Engage procurement teams and other stakeholders in your strategic thinking and implementation plans as early as possible and on an ongoing basis. Launching a detailed communications plan is one way to sell the benefits of change and maintain stakeholder buy-in. These plans help create a campaign of understanding and an overall reform narrative. Strategy #3: A powerful technique to diagnose why key stakeholders are resistant to change is to explore what competing commitments they might have that could prevent them from embracing a change effort. The concept of Immunity to Change, developed by Harvard Graduate School of Education faculty Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey, is one tool you can use to understand your own and your team’s competing commitments that may be a barrier to embracing change. 👩💻 To view the event materials and watch the recording, click here: https://lnkd.in/eNajrEA6 📄 To view the Halifax Regional Municipality change management plan, click here: https://lnkd.in/eN3KKTKv 📚 To view PEN's quick read on overcoming immunity to change, click here: https://lnkd.in/e39GcWhk

Implementing change in any organization can be tough, and in public procurement, it can be even trickier. Many governments have faced challenges, resistance, or avoidance from key stakeholders when attempting to launch a procurement reform.    Join us for a training session that will discuss common change management barriers and strategies to help overcome obstacles in driving procurement transformation within your government. Whether you are thinking about standardizing procurement templates, adjusting purchasing thresholds, or implementing equitable contracting initiatives, this session can help as you embark on your change management journey. This session will explore the following themes: ⚡ Why is implementing change in public procurement so difficult? 🚦 What strategies can resolve common roadblocks to change? 📈 How do you know if change is happening? Special Invitation: Following the event, we invite you to join us for an optional post-event session (30 minutes) for an open dialogue with peer governments about change management success stories and common challenges. This is an event you don't want to miss!   Date/time: Friday, September 20, 2024 | 12:00-1:00pm ET Register here: https://lnkd.in/eNajrEA6

Have you ever wondered just how much it costs to conduct a bid or Request for Proposal process? The RFP Tracking Project, supported by the National Cooperative Procurement Partners, aims to answer that very question. Their recently released report quantifies the personnel expenses involved in 39 sample ITBs/IFBs and RFPs across different governments.    Our team was particularly intrigued by these insights:    ⏱ It takes three times as many hours (138.7 hours on average) to complete a complex solicitation project compared to non-complex projects (42.9 hours on average).  ✍ The initial stages and publication of a solicitation take much longer than the open solicitation period, negotiation, and award phases. Developing specifications and the Scope of Work is by far the most resource-consuming step.     To read the full report or the two-page overview, click here: https://lnkd.in/ed32yYd5  

Implementing change in any organization can be tough, and in public procurement, it can be even trickier. Many governments have faced challenges, resistance, or avoidance from key stakeholders when attempting to launch a procurement reform.    Join us for a training session that will discuss common change management barriers and strategies to help overcome obstacles in driving procurement transformation within your government. Whether you are thinking about standardizing procurement templates, adjusting purchasing thresholds, or implementing equitable contracting initiatives, this session can help as you embark on your change management journey. This session will explore the following themes: ⚡ Why is implementing change in public procurement so difficult? 🚦 What strategies can resolve common roadblocks to change? 📈 How do you know if change is happening? Special Invitation: Following the event, we invite you to join us for an optional post-event session (30 minutes) for an open dialogue with peer governments about change management success stories and common challenges. This is an event you don't want to miss!   Date/time: Friday, September 20, 2024 | 12:00-1:00pm ET Register here: https://lnkd.in/eNajrEA6