Transformational change doesn’t just happen as a result of a directive. It happens within each individual as a result of higher awareness, goal alignment, and other factors. This workshop provides insights on how a leader can cause transformational change within the team. Join this session and be inspired to initiate transformational change.

How do you decide?  Is it intuition? Learn best practices in making good decisions, avoiding biases and errors, and the value of collaboration. What if you aren’t the decision maker but are recommending a course of action? And how can decisions by evaluation committees be improved? Join us to learn : It’s not just intuition; it’s a process.

In lieu of the COVID-19, i.e. Coronavirus, pandemic Procurement staff nationwide have been displaying the inert value they bring to an entity when an emergency requires rapid response. Reviewing actions taken by Procurement staff over the past few months forced everyone to understand the role Procurement plays and the value they bring to supply chain activities. This value is demonstrated not only in day-to-day decisions and actions, but by being proactive and effective during times of emergency. In this session, we will be discuss four primary areas in which procurement professionals use professional judgement and add value on a daily basis: Emergency Management, Strategic Value, Ethics & Professionalism, and Procurement Values & Principles.

The procurement function has been employed to achieve sustainability in environmental, social, and economic aspects of communities. This session demonstrates current trends in sustainable procurement in local governments across North America, particularly within the United States. Specifically, it assesses supplier diversity and green procurement as major components of sustainable procurement initiatives.

The task force members who developed the Market Research Process global best practice document share their experiences and present the main concepts with examples to illustrate.

The concept of “begin with the end in mind” for public procurement officials, sourcing capital assets, is critical to considering every stage of asset ownership. Join me at VCON to learn more about how Fairfax Water Authority is leading the way in Asset Management from procurement, maintenance, disposition and everything in between.

Explore the positive and negative, the realities and vagaries of the interactions between procurement professionals and the political environment. We will draw on personal experiences working with senior executives and elected officials in the Federal Government, the City of Chicago and several smaller communities to identify common themes and approaches to peaceful and productive coexistence with Politicians and effective participation in and engagement with our communities.

Procuring goods and services of international origin from a domestic supplier, which is our normal interaction, is quite different from procuring directly from an international supplier. Trade Agreement requirements are triggered by dollar thresholds and other means, perhaps resulting in posting period differences from those required under your jurisdiction’s regular protocols, although the procurement processes are very similar.

The intent of this session is to provide a brief introductory glimpse into international Trade Agreement requirements.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments to increase spending in an effort to fight this national emergency, government revenue is taking a gigantic hit from a significantly reduced tax base creating grim budget scenarios. For staff in the procurement office, this conflict is clear as you face challenges in both supplying operations during an emergency while also cutting spending to meet a new budget reality. This session highlights GFOA’s Fiscal First Aid program that lays out a 12-step process for recovering from financial distress and specific strategies that procurement officers can implement in both short and long-term.