News for the Statewide Procurement Community from the State Purchasing and Contracts Office
From the CPO
Happy Government Procurement Month! I am truly grateful to procurement professionals across the state for all your hard work. Whether you work in purchasing or contracts, this month is a celebration of you and your crucial work that helps to keep Colorado running smoothly!
In celebration of Government Public Procurement Month, the SPCO has launched two new training courses, completing the Basic Procurement Certification path. We've also issued a challenge to all state procurement staff to earn that certification and for a chance to win some great Colorado swag! We're calling it Procurement Training Month, and I encourage you all to check out the information below and participate.
Sincerely,
Sherri Maxwell, CPPB
Chief Procurement Officer
Procurement Training Month
The SPCO has great news! Two new training courses have been added to COPROU (Colorado Procurement University, our online learning management system for state procurement staff): Overview of Commitment Vouchers and Statutory Violations and Unauthorized Purchases. This completes the Basic Procurement Certification path. These training courses are specifically designed for procurement professionals, and are different from the Statutory Violation Prevention course that the Central Contract Unit leads.
To celebrate the new courses and March being Government Procurement Month, the SPCO is excited to announce Procurement Training Month! We are encouraging all state procurement staff to complete the challenge below before the end of March to receive your Basic Procurement Certificate and the chance to win some cool Colorado swag!
The Procurement Training Month Challenge
- Complete the five Basic Procurement courses in COPROU
- Complete at least two National Association of State Procurement Officials (NASPO) free online procurement-focused courses via Procurement U (You can create a free Procurement U account and sign up for these courses here)
How to Participate:
- Log into your COPROU account (or contact Thomas.wilson@state.co.us if you don’t have one).
- Enroll in the Basic Procurement Certificate in COPROU and complete all five courses (you may have already completed the first three, but they’ve been updated and should be taken again).
- Print out your Basic Procurement Path certificate.
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Complete this Google form to show you have completed the challenge. 10 winners will be chosen at random to receive cool Colorado swag.
Keep Jobs in Colorado Reporting
In an ongoing effort to modernize workflow and increase efficiency, the State Purchasing & Contracts Office has moved ‘Keep Jobs in Colorado’ reporting to our eSubmissions system.
Per §24-102-206 C.R.S., agencies and institutions of higher education under the Procurement Code are required to submit vendor notifications of work performed outside of Colorado or the United States to the SPCO. These notices are posted for six months on our Keep Jobs in Colorado Notice webpage. The form for submitting vendor notifications can be found on our eSubmissions webpage and should be submitted following the instructions provided. Any questions regarding this program can be sent to barbara.musick@state.co.us.
2023 Rising Star Award
Today is your last chance to nominate someone for the Rising Star Award! This award is intended to honor those who are early in their state procurement careers but who have already shown great potential and growth.
We are now accepting nominations for the third annual Rising Star Award, and the winner will be announced via video. In order to be eligible, the nominee must be within their first two years of procurement or state procurement. This includes people who have worked for two years or less in procurement in general, or it could be a more advanced procurement professional who has spent the majority of their career thus far working in private industry or local government. The recognition could be for a specific project, or for general improvement. Some possible examples include:
- Conducted their first RFP successfully
- Improved a process
- Took initiative on a new project
- Created a template that improved productivity
Please use this form to nominate a colleague or employee who you feel is a Rising Star in state procurement. Nominations will be accepted until 5:00pm on March 14th.
Congratulations to Chelsea Gilbertson,
DPA's Employee of the Month!
 "Chelsea has been the Manager of the Central Contracts unit since earlier this year, and she has been great to work with. She is always available for support, to answer questions, and to discuss anything that needs to be discussed. She makes herself available to her team, and to anyone else, for support on a moment's notice. I have personally been very thankful for the guidance and expertise that she shares on a daily basis. She represents a number of the DPA values. Responsiveness because of her willingness to engage quickly, but also with respect and adaptability. Teamwork because she supports her team - being there when needed, especially when the team is busy. Integrity because she is honest and fair. And more, but I will leave it there."
Congratulations, Chelsea! We are so happy to have you on the SPCO team!
Solicitation Templates
The solicitation templates project is now complete! Thank you to John Chapman for your hard work putting these together, and thank you to the Executive Procurement Advisory Council for your reviews and feedback.
All solicitation templates are available on our Procurement Resources webpage under "Solicitation Templates":
- Documented Quote (DQ) Template
- Invitation for Bid (IFB) Template
- IFB Appendix A
- Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) Template
- Request for Information (RFI) Template
- Request For Proposal (RFP) Template
- RFP Appendix A - Administrative Information
REMINDER:
New Contract Management Training & Reporting Requirements
The new Contract Management Policy requires agencies and IHEs to provide annual contract management training by the end of each fiscal year. Procurement officials must also report to the SPCO on the training requirement by September 30th of year, beginning in 2023.
Specific details are available in the policy, and have been shared with procurement officials, but here are a few highlights:
- Agencies/IHEs may create their own training using LMS, webinar, Powerpoint/Google, video meetings, or other methods. An updated SPCO contract management training is also available for use.
- This annual training is required for all contract managers of personal services contracts (including purchase orders) of $100,000 or higher, not just managers of high-risk contracts.
- Agencies/IHEs will be required to report back to the SPCO using a specific form that will be shared later this year.
The SPCO has also provided a Sample Contract Management Agreement and Sample Contract Management Best Practices on our training webpage that can be easily customized for your agency/IHE's specific needs.
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