An Eclectic Guide for Procurement Professionals

All a Purchasing Officer needs to Know!

This comprehensive course comprises of 3 must-know training sessions for Procurement Professionals:

Session: 1 -  Drafting Contracts for Procurement Professionals: 90 Min 

This session is geared to informing participants about important terms and conditions to know when drafting a contract for your organization. This is presented from a pier perspective based on years of experience drafting contracts and not a legal review presentation by an Attorney. Understanding the terms of a contract is especially important when problems arise with a contractor or with organizational priorities. The object of the webinar is to make you a better advocate for your organization when contracting with a vendor. Sample language will be reviewed that may assist you in strengthening the next contract you are required to draft.

Gain an understanding of the documents and section types necessary to draft a procurement contract. Learn terms that may impact your contract and your employer. Get a head start on what to look out for in a common vendor agreement. Discover what terms to include to strengthen the position of your company or agency. Gain an understanding of what terms may be considered deal breakers vs. a business decision. Receive information on the importance of terms to be used to prevent being held hostage by an underperforming vendor under contract. Use clauses to prevent getting locked into a bad contract. Learn about tools to control cost escalations.

Session: 2 -  Implementing Purchasing Policies: 90 Min

This Session intended to provide information on implementing purchasing policies for purchasing professionals. After attending this session, you will gain an understanding of practical applications that apply to your daily business. This session will also:

• Outline the strategic role of purchasing in the organization,
• Review latest business writing techniques suited for the development of policies, processes, procedures, and service level agreements (SLA)
• Discuss how to formulation policies to effectively govern the organizations purchasing activities,
• Discuss how to design cross-functional processes and procedures that optimize effort, cost, time, output, and controls,
• Guide to develop SLAs that set smart rules of engagement between the purchasing department and the rest of the organization, and
• Share examples and case studies.

Session: 3 -  Selecting Vendors: An Introduction to RFP’s: 90 Min

During the session, Kenneth will discuss, how to solicit and select qualified Vendors, covers tools and documents that you can use to cast a wide net, and also verify that the vendors are going to be qualified to meet your requirements. Attendees will see examples of vendor responsibility reviews and qualification statements. In addition to soliciting information from vendors to ensure they are responsible attendees will learn about steps, they must take to ensure the responsibility review is thorough and is done in a way to protect their company or organization. Also, there will be tips in increasing the number of valid responses from the vendor community to your solicitations. 

In addition, Kenneth will also discuss how to ensure that the vendor stays compliant to assist purchasing officers and contract managers in monitoring vendor performance. In addition to the formal responsibility review, there will be necessary follow-ups to ensure compliance. Penalty clauses and various examples of terms to use to consistently evaluate vendor performance will be covered.

Webinar Objectives

• Learn terms that may impact your contract and your employer.
• Get a head start on what to look out for in a common vendor agreement.
• Discover what terms to include to strengthen the position of your company or agency.
• Gain an understanding of what terms may be considered deal breakers vs. a business decision.
• Receive information on the importance of terms to be used to prevent being held hostage by an underperforming vendor under contract.
• Creating a vendor database and creating a qualified vendor pool for an RFP.
• Learn ways to get better-qualified vendors using an RFI and vendor responsibility review processes.  
• Samples of RFP terms, technical scoring, and cost evaluation will be covered as well.
• Get Tools you can use the next time you are faced with creating a qualified vendor pool for an RFP

Webinar Agenda

Drafting Contracts for Procurement Professionals

• Preamble
• Procurement Documents as Attachments
• Scope of Work
• Payment Terms
• Term Dates and Renewals
• Escalation Clauses
• Termination Clauses
• Jurisdiction
• Arbitration
• Insurance
• Bonding
• Indemnification
• Direct Damages
• Indirect Damages
• Terms to Avoid
• General Terms and Conditions of Your Organization
• Final Agreement Between the Parties
• Independent Contractor Provision
• Waiver of Enforcement
• Responsibility of the Contractor
• Penalty Clauses
• Order of Precedence
• Contract Draft Legal Review
• Signatures Notarized
• Attachments/Exhibits
• Contract Amendments
• Contract Administration

Implementing Purchasing Policies

• Creating a Procurement Procedure
• Creating a Workflow
• Creating Documents
• Internal Controls
• Avoiding Pitfalls

Selecting Vendors: An Introduction to RFP’s

• How to solicit and select qualified Vendors
  • How to create a vendor database
  • How to create a qualified vendor pool
  • How to cast a wide net
• How to ensure that the vendor stays compliant
  • Vendor Responsibility Reviews
  • Compliance Terms
  • Contract Management
• The RFP Process from drafting to awarding
  • Drafting the RFP & Scoring Matrix
  • Good Practices based on Examples
  • Making a Contract Award

Webinar Highlights

Session: 1 -  Drafting Contracts for Procurement Professionals

• How to draft the Contract
• What attachments to include
• Defining Terms
• Reducing your organization’s risks
• Responsibility of the parties
• Dispute resolution
• Terms to avoid
• Payment Terms
• Penalty Clauses
• Managing the contract

Session: 2 -  Implementing Purchasing Policies

• For existing Procurement Offices review what is working and what isn’t working in your current environment.
  • Ask customers that your service to provide feedback or a formal customer satisfaction survey.
    • What does our Procurement Office do best?
    • What does our Procurement Office do worst?
    • What services are we providing that you find helpful?
    • What services would you like added to make your job easier?
  • Meet with current stakeholders that use your procurement documents in their workflow
    • Accounting
    • Receiving
    • Equipment or Asset Management
    • Safety or Hazardous Control Offices
    • Other internal control staff-
  • Meet with outside control agencies or departments that impact workflow
• For new Purchasing Offices or new procedures review the stakeholders and their needs
  • Establish workflow based on the procurement office’s  internal requirements and needs of the customers
  • Draft internal forms such as Purchase Requisition, Purchase Order, Change Order and vendor contract.
  • Develop a procurement manual for the purchasing office
• Case Study; Creating a Procurement Manual for a Grant-Funded Program
• Avoiding Pitfalls in Procurement Policies

Session: 3 -  Selecting Vendors: An Introduction to RFP’s: 90 Min

• How to determine when an RFP is the best method
• How to use and draft an RFI (Request for Information)
• What standard clause should be included in an RFP
• How and when to draft a scoring matrix
• How to draft a questionnaire for scoring references
• How to make multiple awards from one RFP
• Drafting the award and rejection letters
• Debriefing losers and engaging the winner
• How to avoid common pitfalls

Who Should Attend

• Purchasing Agents
• Account Managers
• Contract Officers
• Buyers
• Procurement Officers
• Administrators
• Counsel
• Finance
• Contracting
• Internal Control Officers