Center for Procurement Excellence Conference a Success

By Tremco.

The conference helps owners increase their chances of attracting and selecting more skilled vendors, with a greater correlation to successful and cost-effective projects.

More than 100 industry professionals representing a mix of manufacturers, contractors, business owners, school districts, higher education institutions and government agency representatives gathered for the second annual Center for Procurement Excellence (CPE) National Procurement Conference in Los Angeles, CA.  Attendees learned how traditional Procurement methods, which often select the vendor with the lowest bid, lead to inconsistent outcomes that often cost far more than the original price.  By using Expertise-driven Project Delivery (XPD), owners increase their chances of attracting and selecting more skilled vendors, with a greater correlation to successful and cost-effective projects. Gwen Williams, Former Asst. General Manager, Los Angeles Dept. of Water & Power explained “The Expertise-based Project Delivery (XPD) methodology developed by CPE allowed our technical staff to finally agree that indeed there could be virtue in a procurement process.” 

Attendees were challenged to bring change to their organizations by using standardized procurement documents and methods, creating RFP’s and SOW’s (scope of work) that would attract better vendors, and helping vendors better respond to those bids. Dr. Kenn Sullivan, Director of the Simplar Institute, explained that “Getting the right team on your projects is the key to realizing high performance, cost savings, innovation, and quality.  This all starts with the procurement process.  It is how you attract the best companies that want to compete for your work and put their best teams on your projects.  Using the same old procurement methods, solicitations, and RFP templates is not good enough in today’s hyper-competitive market place. ”

All agreed that the conference was a success with one procurement manager stating, ““The CPE conference was very informative and much of the information can be incorporated into the organizations procurement processes.”

About The Center for Procurement Excellence (CPE)

The Center for Procurement Excellence (CPE) is a non-profit, membership based organization that advocates for the adoption of standardized procurement practices to improve the effectiveness of public and private procurements. Driven by core procurement principles, CPE has developed the most effective procurement solicitations to maximize the opportunities of success.

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