“The beauty of procurement is that it forces us to become innovative and flexible within the space allotted by procurement statutes and ordinances.”
—Excerpt, Preface to Public Procurement: A Guide to the Body of Knowledge through Exercises and Case Studies by Alexandru V. Roman & Darin L. Matthews
In a challenge to current and future procurement professionals, two supply chain management experts ask their students to think about public procurement in a new way, to see “the true strategic role procurement can take within organizations.”
Public procurement is often misunderstood, writes Alexandru V. Roman, Ph.D. and Darin Matthews, CPPO, CPSM, in their new book, Public Procurement: A Guide to the Body of Knowledge through Exercises and Case Studies.
The workbook (see below for topics) focuses on procurement in state, local, and higher education in a series of case studies about common challenges encountered by a public procurement professional followed by questions for readers to consider as individuals or in small group situations.
“The intent of the case studies in Public Procurement is to prepare students in supply chain management and business management to respond to challenges on the job,” says Matthews, director of Procurement & Supply Chain Services for the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Matthews is founding chair of the new UCSC Extension Supply Chain Management certificate program and an experienced instructor on the topic. He has been an adjunct professor for years and has extensive experience in bid protests and sustainable procurement.
Roman, a former student of Matthews, is an associate professor with the College of Business and Public Administration at California State University, San Bernardino. He is the director of the Research Institute for Public Management and Governance and the coordinator of the CSUMB Management Certificate in Public Procurement. He has expertise in public budgeting and academia among other areas.
Tackling everything from basic purchase orders to public-private partnerships and procurement protests to sustainable procurement strategies, the authors challenge readers “to rid themselves of the idea that procurement is static and to embrace procurement as a subspace of public governance that requires critical imagination and strategic vision.”
Rather than prescriptive, the book tries to get people to see how each decision can impact an organization.
“(H)opefully you, as a reader, will become an agent of change for the profession. Finally, we hope this book will become a must have guide to the body of knowledge in public procurement for all procurement professionals.”
The pair is working on a second book that will focus on federal procurement case studies and strategies.
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Learn more about the UCSC Extension Supply Chain Management certificate program,
Upcoming Supply Chain Management Spring Courses:
- Evolving Role of Supply Chain Management, April 10
- Managing Global Supply Chains, May 12
- Sustainable Supply Chain Strategies, May 15
As well as:
- Business Law and Its Environment, April 2
- Business and Professional Writing, April 3
- Role of the Project Manager (online), April 16
- Outsourcing and Contract Management (online), April 30
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Topics in Public Procurement: A Guide to the Body of Knowledge through Exercises and Case Studies include:
- Purchase orders
- Supplier communication plan
- Requests for proposals (RFP)
- Putting together an (RFP) evaluation committee
- Bid openings case study
- Reverse auction
- Preference based procurement
- Strategic procurement
- Sustainable procurement
- Public procurement ethics
- Contract formulation
- Contract administration
- Public private partnerships
- Cooperative procurement
- Negotiations in public procurement
- Identifying procurement
- Best practices online
- Procurement protests
- Plus, references & useful links
Darin Matthews also co-wrote: Effective Supply Management Performance Hardcover (2008) and chapters in several other books as well as numerous articles in professional publications. He is a regular contributor to American City & County.