Competency Modules: Standardization

Description

As stewards of the public trust and the party responsible for ensuring the value of the taxpayers’ dollar is obtained, public procurement professionals must consistently strive to ensure the ethical and legal expenditure of the entity’s funds. Key to this responsibility is the establishment of cross-departmental agreements based on the characteristics and quality of purchased products through the use of standards.

Objectives

In order to successfully earn a digital badge, learners must:

• Analyze the requirements of various internal stakeholders in order to adopt one set of specifications for commonly procured commodities.
• Design contracts that satisfy the shared needs of multiple internal stakeholders to promote efficiency of the procurement function.

Intended Audience

Designed to promote applicable experiences for practitioners working in the public sector, NIGP’s Pathways competency courses empower learners with the ready-to-implement actions they need to succeed in public procurement. This introductory course is designed for:

• Public procurement and central warehouse professionals who serve as assistants, coordinators, buyers, or equivalent functions within their respective entities.
• Non-procurement managers and supervisors who are responsible for either the procurement function or staff who provide procurement functions under delegated authority.
• Professionals who are employed by governing entities and special authorities (such as K-12 and higher education, publicly-owned utilities, transportation providers, and other publicly-funded or created organizations) that either serve within or manage the procurement function.
• Suppliers or representatives of suppliers seeking to understand the public procurement function from a holistic level, including the policies, standards, and procedures by which public entities must function.