NIGP CPP-Bridge Prep
Course Format
Hosted within NIGP’s learning management system Aspire, instructor-led virtual courses allow learners to interact with a cohort of their peers over a two-week time period. This experience includes two mandatory virtual class sessions using Zoom where learners are able to collaborate with each other and leverage their Instructor expertise. Additional course components include discussion forums, video lectures from industry experts, downloadable job aids and resources, and a digital student workbook. This option is great for learners with limited ability to travel or learners who prefer the two-week format over 1-3 days in person.
Description
The NIGP-CPP certification is a must-have for anyone is public sector procurement. The NIGP-CPP certification is designed to elevate professional standards, enhance individual performance, and designate public procurement professionals who demonstrate the competencies essential to succeed in the public sector. Promoting learner engagement in three critical areas not traditionally covered by the CPPB and CPPO designations—focusing on competencies associated with Strategy, Leadership, and Business Principles—the NIGP-CPP Bridge Prep course empowers students to assess their own strengths and weaknesses as they relate to the NIGP Public Procurement Competency Framework. Included within this course enrollment are several items designed to help you prepare for the NIGP-CPP Certification exam, including:
·NIGP-CPP Prep Guide
·Instructor-led Course
·Student Workbook (Includes Job Aids, Handouts, Practical Application Exercises, etc.)
·NIGP-CPP Prep Study Tips
Candidates of this course should enroll a minimum of six months prior to the selected test date in order to provide sufficient time for independent reflection and additional study. Please note that participation in this course does not
guarantee success on the examination.
Online Live Learning Event (OLLEs)
-Thursday, June 17 2-4PM EST
-Thursday, June 24 2-4 PM EST
Target Audience
This certificate is targeted to individuals who meet or exceed the following professional demographics:
·Current holders of the Certified Public Procurement Officer (CPPO) or Certified Professional Public Buyer (CPPB) designation, or holders of recently lapsed certifications within one year of the expiration date of the certification.
·Professionals who have a Graduate degree related to public administration, public policy, supply chain, procurement, or economics; a bachelor’s degree related to any discipline; an associate’s degree related to any discipline; or a high-school diploma/GED.
·Professionals who have a minimum of two years’ professional experience ranging to eight years’ professional experience supporting the public procurement sector, scaling based upon the highest level of academic achievement.
·Professionals who can meet the eligibility criteria for one of the six Pathways for certification (see NIGP-CPP Eligibility Requirement for Pathways A – F).
Course Outline
The NIGP-CPP Prep Course focuses on the following key areas:
·Focus Area 1: Strategy — For the public procurement function to serve as a valuable, contributing asset to the entity, it must think, plan, and act strategically, aligning entity mission and public benefit alongside social responsibility. As an extension of the procurement function, the public procurement professional must actively serve to the public benefit, helping create the entity’s strategic vison to assist the public as a whole.
·Focus Area 2: Policy & Legislation — As stewards of the public trust, procurement professionals are held to a higher standard of ethics than are most public employees, acting with confidence to wisely expend the taxpayer dollars. It is vital they not only understand and follow applicable laws but also that they act in accordance with the intent of laws created to guard against favoritism, unfairness, and unnecessary spending, meeting the needs of their entity without bowing to either internal or external political pressures. Knowledge of the political environment and entity management are necessary tools in order to do so.
·Focus Area 3: Planning & Analysis — The direction of public sector organizations has generated increased demand for strategic procurement planning and participation by procurement professionals in the implementation of many projects—particularly out-sourcing, privatization, and public-private partnerships. Risk is a critical consideration in the contracting and procurement process, and a thoughtful and proactive approach toward risk, as it relates to specific procurement actions, contributes to the success of contract performance.
·Focus Area 4: Sourcing & Solicitation — In addition to knowing the approved methods of procurement, the procurement professional must know the appropriate situations to use each in order to achieve the best value for the entity while meeting the needs of the end user. To do this, procurement professionals must understand how to deal effectively with individual clients across a variety of situations while ensuring the contractor’s financial strength, ethics, past performance, etc. are duly considered prior to award. Furthermore, procurement professionals must establish positive, pro-active relationships with end users and suppliers (both domestic and international) in both positive and negative situations.
·Focus Area 5: Contract Administration — Public procurement professionals must be prepared to demonstrate good contract writing and management skills when pursuing procurement engagement and supporting uninterrupted public service delivery of commodities for their entity. For the procurement professional, this includes all aspects from the time the need is recognized until the commodity is used or disposed of, including but not limited to receipt, inspection, logistics, inventory management, and contract/supplier management.
·Focus Area 6: Leadership — Public procurement professionals must be prepared to demonstrate good leadership skills when faced with everyday challenges, striving to ensure that both employees and leaders have the necessary agility, innovation, and drive to proactively transform their procurement cultures in strategic, practical ways. In addition, the procurement professional must master communication strategies, problem solving and critical thinking skills, and relationship management skills, learning to operate as forward-thinking stakeholders in their entity to ensure continuous, proactive solutions that align with their entity’s strategic objectives. As the practitioners leave the profession or age and retire, public procurement professionals must ensure that talent recruitment and development, along with long-term succession planning, play a critical role in their public service, working collaboratively to establish and oversee expectations for career progression, retention, and life-long learning for the procurement function.
·Focus Area 7: Business Principles — In our ever-changing and
increasingly complex world, the ability for procurement professionals to
perform their professional responsibilities alongside common business
principles and operations is critical to the success of an entity’s procurement
function. It is no longer feasible for the procurement professional to merely
be concerned with the purchasing process. Instead, they must understand, apply,
and master the use of business, financial, technology, and project management
soft skills to serve as an effective and contributing member of an entity’s
management team, thereby ensuring project and program success while efficiently
and ethically serving as stewards of the public trust.
Competency Alignment
This course is designed as an exercise-based learning experience and is tied to NIGP’s Public Procurement Competency Framework. Upon completion of the course requirements, learners will have demonstrated the successful foundational knowledge, skills, and abilities in alignment with the NIGP Public Procurement Competency Framework.
Length
·Two-week, digitally-based learning experience housed in Aspire, NIGP’s learning management system.
