Education: Low-Fee Seminar Descriptions

Full Day (8 Hours)

Competitive Sealed Bidding vs. Competitive Negotiation
Focuses on the competitive negotiation processes, RFP development and techniques for a win-win negotiation. Differences between IFB and RFP are explained.

Ethics in Procurement
Identifies the various sections of the Code of Virginia dealing with ethics and their applicability to public employees having official responsibility for procurement transactions. You will review and discuss case studies, and learn what portions of the code were violated. The information in this class will assist you in promoting and establishing confidence in the ethical standards at your agency.

How to Award to the Best Vendor
Organizations need to be assured their purchasing department's award contracts for goods and services to the best available vendor. Exceptional organizations demand excellence from their purchasing departments in the areas of contractual assurances, research, and intelligent decision making. This course covers strategies, thought processes, and research skills that have been sometimes overlooked by organizations that place emphasis on making "fast awards" rather than "quality awards". How a purchasing department understands the marketplace and assures itself, by use of prerequisites and documentation, liquidated damages, and other purchasing tools, of placing an award with the best vendor available will be discussed. Items of significant impact on contracts such as changed costs, freight, extra work and liquidated damages will be discussed through sample clauses and case studies.

Planning and Conducting Successful Meetings
Focuses on the purpose, process and pitfalls of planning and conducting meetings. Attendees will learn tips and techniques to determine the necessity of meetings, and how to keep them on track, to the point, and under control. Various types of meetings will be identified and their purposes defined.

Purchasing Management & the Relentless Pursuit of Excellence
This seminar focuses on the basics of how to be a great manager. Great managers believe in excellence and create an environment that cultivates excellence. This seminar will define the fundamentals of excellence, identify the obstacles to excellence, and help you to build a personal commitment to excellence. During this seminar you will learn how to recognize, achieve and reward excellence and how to build an excellence-driven operation.

Ten Characteristics of Effective Management
Covers the fundamentals and principles that will help the new supervisor and the veteran manager to build an effective purchasing staff and bring value to the purchasing function in any governmental entity. Topics covered include: motivating staff, training staff, communicating effectively, mentoring, discipline and leadership.

Time & Materials Contracts
Deals with the unique characteristics of time and material purchases on an as needed basis for repairs and emergencies. It will provide suggestions on how to deal with labor costs, repair parts, profit and overhead, travel time, administrative costs, securing estimates, and the importance of contract oversight/administration of contracts.

Green Procurement
This seminar will offer up-to-date information and training on how to manage your workplace successfully while incorporating environmentally-friendly approaches, some of which can save you money! Through lecture, case studies, class exercises and discussion you will learn about how the “green” movement is more than just a trend and of the many opportunities you have at your agency to “go green or greener!”

Virginia Public Procurement Act
Introduction and Overview of the Virginia Public Procurement Act.

Be a Pro
A professional is a person who can do his best at a time when he doesn't particularly feel like it." (Alistair Cooke). On a daily basis most of us interact with others whose lack of professionalism directly impacts on our business results. Professionalism is truly the foundation of a successful career. It’s all about having a lifetime dedication to standards, ideals, and self-improvement. This seminar also deals with Management Myths, Experts, Hoaxs, and other Flim Flams of communications. It’s a blue jeans and work boots approach to the myths, clichés, experts and antiquated language procurement professionals encounter. It will be a workman-like discussion of the habits of communication and how the professional can deal with their changes. We fall into old habits as communications without realizing what we are doing. The presentation is a Darwinian Flush, a stripping of the layers of old paint and varnish on the subject with a view to a new look at how we communicate. The instructor will lead an informative discussion of the subject, be prepared to discuss your own most hated myths and clichés.

Public Purchasing Basics
This class explores the basis for public purchasing in the Commonwealth including the intent of the Virginia Public Procurement Act, authorized methods of procurement, contract formation and administration, documentation requirements, public inspection of records and review ethics in public contracting. The difference between purchasing, procurement and materiel management is presented. The difference in the meanings of laws, statutes, regulations, policies & procedures is discussed. Participants will learn what internal and external factors affect the way purchasing is conducted in public entities.