Deploying Advanced Training -...

Deploying Advanced Training

www.procurementoffice.com

Paul EmanuelliManaging Director

The Procurement [email protected]

416-700-8528

Copyright NoticeThe following excerpts from The Art of Tendering: AGlobal Due Diligence Guide (Procurement PublishingOffice, 2019) are reproduced with permission. The furtherreproduction of these materials without the expresswritten permission of the author is prohibited.

© Paul Emanuelli, 2019

For further information please contact:[email protected]

About the AuthorPaul Emanuelli is the General Counsel and ManagingDirector of the Procurement Office. He was recognized byWho’s Who Legal as one of the top ten publicprocurement lawyers in the world. His portfolio focuses onstrategic governance in public purchasing and onnegotiating high-profile major procurement projects. Paulhas an extensive track record of public speaking,publishing and training. He is the author of GovernmentProcurement, The Laws of Precision Drafting,Accelerating the Tendering Cycle, and The Art ofTendering. Paul hosts a monthly webinar series and hastrained and presented to thousands of procurementprofessionals from hundreds of institutions across NorthAmerica through the Procurement Office and incollaboration with leading industry organizations,including NIGP, SCMA, the University of the West Indies,and Osgoode Hall Law School.

Deploying Advanced TrainingCertifying Success

Public bodies can no longer afford to be reactive in dealing theirprocurement operations. Public institutions need to deploy proactivecertification programs to ensure that all staff engaged in theprocurement process have the necessary training to properly deal withthe complex challenges of (i) institutional governance; (ii) projectgovernance; and (iii) solicitation drafting. This presentation surveys thecore substantive areas that serve as a checklist for developing athorough procurement training strategy for a public sector organization.

Resource and Training GapA Procurement Crisis

The ability to manage resources for the greater good remains theultimate litmus test of advanced economies. Governments are largelymeasured by what they build or fail to build in the public interest;however, public institutions have failed to adequately resource andtrain the procurement staff that are responsible for translating taxrevenues into social spending. This training gap represents a growingcrisis that should be immediately rectified.

Resource and Training GapServing the Public Interest

Public institutions spend billions of dollars annually to maintain ourstandard of living. Citizens in advanced economies tend to take theirpublic infrastructure and services for granted and consider them to bebasic entitlements; however, building and maintaining thatinfrastructure and delivering those services is no easy task.


While select groups of predominantly large private-sector suppliersenjoy the profits of servicing our public infrastructure and systems, thepublic officials responsible for maintaining the public procurementprocess tend to toil away in obscurity until something goes wrong.


While government operating departments receive annual budgetallocations to fund their procurement projects, procurementdepartments, which are often dismissed as operational overhead, tendto get short-changed in those annual allocations.


Procurement professionals are expected to keep purchasing systemsrunning on shoestring budgets and outdated technologies so thatgovernment operating departments can keep awarding contracts to theprivate companies that help maintain the infrastructure and systemsthat give us access to the clean water, electricity, healthcare,education, transportation, law enforcement, and national defence thatwe typically take for granted.


However, someone needs to keep these procurement systems runningproperly so that the social supply chains that maintain advanced livingstandards can continue to function. If our procurement systems fail, theunderpinnings of advanced economies will quickly erode.

Resource and Training GapPenny Wise-Pound Reckless

Global trade treaties have exposed public institutions at all levels ofgovernment to an unprecedented level of complexity based oninternational procurement rules and standards. However, the agencies,municipalities, universities, colleges, school boards, and health sectorentities responsible for providing most of the front-line services to thepublic have been left to fend for themselves when it comes to allocatingresources and training to keep their procurement systems running.

Resource and Training GapPenny Wise-Pound Reckless

Sadly, senior-level governments have been quick to set up rules thatallow suppliers to sue public institutions over spending disputes, butslow to fund the systems and training necessary to avoid the badpractices that lead to lawsuits in the first place.

Resource and Training GapA Rapid Action Plan

At the end of the day, though, each public institution remainsaccountable for its own spending. Senior decision-makers within ourpublic institutions need to allocate greater portions of theirdepartmental spending towards updating their central procurementsystems and enhancing training programs for their procurement staff.


These programs should include training on the proper drafting ofcontract specifications and bid evaluation criteria, on using tenderingformats that help avoid legal risks, on properly documenting groupevaluations and bidder debriefings, and on properly conductingcontract negotiations and managing awarded contracts. Furthermore,public institutions should train staff on how to properly handle biddisputes under open tendering rules before they escalate into formalbid protest proceedings.

Resource and Training GapTrust But Certify

Finally, public institutions should apply a preventative approach to theirprocurement operations by ensuring that everyone in the organizationis provided basic procurement governance training before interactingwith the procurement process. Staff should also be provided with majorproject training and solicitation drafting training before being assignedto a major project team.


It should be a self-evident proposition that the procurementprofessionals responsible for properly spending vast amounts of publicfunds should have access to the necessary resources and training toensure value-for-money and to protect the public interest. Given therising tide of complexity washing across our public procurementsystems, we cannot afford to maintain a business-as-usual approach.


We can either meet this challenge head on with proper resources andtraining for our procurement departments, or we can watch the rapiderosion of the social infrastructure that we will no longer be able to takefor granted.

Applying a Preventative ApproachLeveraging Legal Learning

As the old adage goes, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound ofcure”. The concept of preventative medicine is firmly entrenched inhealth circles because medical resources are scarce and illness isharder to treat than it is to prevent. Yet, the preventative approach usedto apply medical knowledge in a proactive, systemic fashion is sadlylacking when it comes to using legal knowledge to proactively bolsterour procurement operations. This has to change.


To better serve the public interest, government institutions need toapply preventative law to their procurement practices. This calls for anevolution beyond the “lawyer as litigator” or “lawyer as solicitor” modelsof legal service delivery towards a new paradigm that utilizes thelawyer in the role of process developer and professional trainer.


In the lawyer as litigator model, lawyers are typically used to eitherlaunch lawsuits on behalf of private sector suppliers or to defendlawsuits on behalf of public institutions. This is a highly inefficient use oflegal resources, since an inordinate amount of energy is devoted todealing with and resolving isolated disputes. This drains criticalresources from the core business of the procurement operation: buyingthe goods and services needed to properly run our public institutions. Inthe litigation model there may be successful plaintiffs or successfuldefendants, but in the broader sense there are rarely any winners.


In the lawyer as solicitor model, greater efficiencies are created, sincethe lawyer helps to facilitate the institution’s purchasing activities whilehelping to avoid or limit associated legal risks. The same amount oftime that would typically be taken in defending a single legal action canbe translated into assisting an institution in successfully concludingdozens of contracts. The lawyer as solicitor model works in a semi-proactive fashion by helping the institution succeed on a transaction-by-transaction basis.


However, the delivery of legal services is narrowly focused on thespecific procurement with little broader benefit. Typically, advice isrepeated again and again with no resulting systemic improvements tothe institution’s procurement practices. To make a medical analogy, thelawyer is only treating one person (or transaction) at a time.


What is required is a broader application of proactive legal measures.To better serve the procurement system within each institution andacross the public sector, scarce legal resources need to be deployed inthe most efficient fashion possible. Rather than focusing on theboardroom and the courthouse, legal services should be redirected tothe drawing room and the workshop.


They should be directed to designing more legally sound processesand formats and to training procurement professionals in order toenhance the knowledge and skills needed to employ legally defensiblepurchasing procedures.


Such measures would serve as a striking contrast to the prevailingmeasures currently in vogue, which layer more and more oversight andcontrol measures onto procurement professionals while cuttingprocurement resources and distorting the procurement process into ashort-sighted cost-cutting exercise while ignoring its core function indelivering services to the public.

Deploying Advanced TrainingCertifying Success

Public bodies can no longer afford to be reactive in dealing theirprocurement operations. Public institutions need to deploy proactivecertification programs to ensure that all staff engaged in theprocurement process have the necessary training to properly deal withthe complex challenges of (i) institutional governance; (ii) projectgovernance, and (iii) solicitation drafting. In the next segment of thispresentation, I’ll be speaking to the core substantive areas that need tobe addressed in the development of a strategic procurement trainingstrategy.

Institutional GovernanceOverview

To be effective, procurement governance training must go beyond thetraining of core procurement staff and legal advisors. Everyone whoworks in or for a public organization, including elected officials andpolitical staff, board members, senior-level decision-makers, subjectmatters experts, evaluation team members, contract managers, andend-department contract users, should be required to take procurementgovernance training before interacting in any capacity with aninstitution’s procurement process.

Institutional GovernanceOverview

This procurement governance training should cover:

1. Governance Fundamentals2. Open Competition3. Project Governance4. Post-Award Protocols

Institutional GovernanceGovernance Fundamentals

Governance Fundamentals should cover the core global procurementstandards that influence and shape local public procurement practicesat the jurisdictional and institutional levels. This training should addressthe importance of following appropriate oversight mechanisms to avoidimproper interference in the procurement cycle, while properlymanaging conflict of interest, unfair advantage, and bias, and avoidingimproper local preference in contract award decisions.

Institutional GovernanceOpen Competition

Open Competition training should address the foundational conceptsthat underpin the public procurement system by explaining why publicinstitutions need to use open and transparent tendering practices andand avoid restrictive specifications and sole-sourcing. This trainingshould cover the rising risks associated with collusion and corruption inthe bidding process, while also surveying the risks of using outdatedtendering procedures and non-compliant piggybacking and onboardingpractices.

Institutional GovernanceProject Governance

Project Governance introductory training should cover the duediligence practices that public sector organizations should follow at theinstitutional level to better ensure success at the project level. Thistraining should identify the key institutional factors that lead to projectfailures and cover the fundamentals of proper project governance,including the clear definition of project team roles and responsibilities,and the creation of clear contract requirements, payment structures,and bid evaluation and award strategies.

Institutional GovernancePost-Award Protocols

Post-Award Protocols training should cover the fundamentals ofdebriefing duties, bid protest challenges, and debarment disputes. Thistraining should focus on understanding the importance of balancingconfidentiality and transparency in the tendering cycle, on managingthe risks associated with recent developments in debriefing duties andbid protest mechanisms, and on implementing proper business processpractices that better ensure defensible contract awards, contractterminations, and bidder debarments.

Project GovernanceOverview

Just as institutional governance training should go beyond training coreprocurement staff and legal advisors to include others within theorganization who regularly interact with the organization’s procurementprocess, in-depth major project training should be provided to everyoneworking on an organization’s major projects, including internal andexternal advisors and decision-makers. This training should be amandatory prerequisite to participating in any capacity on a majorproject team.

Project GovernanceOverview

Major project training should cover:

1. The Art of Design2. The Art of Selection3. Flexible Formats4. The Art of Award

Project GovernanceThe Art of Design

Art of Design training should identify the leading causes of projectfailure and cover the fundamentals of proper project design planning.To help project teams achieve their objectives on time, on budget, andby the rules, this training should cover the five critical design factorsthat account for 95% of project successes or failures, while alsoaddressing the six contract design factors that inform the selection ofthe appropriate contract format and related pricing structures.

Project GovernanceThe Art of Selection

Art of Selection training should focus on the key considerations formaking defensible contract award decisions, including the need tointegrate precise and transparent evaluation and award criteria, andthe importance of ensuring procedural correctness through properlymanaged group evaluation procedures and properly maintainedevaluation records.

Project GovernanceUsing Flexible Formats

Flexible Formats training should enable the informed decision-makingneeded to help mitigate the risks associated with the tenderingprocess. This training should assist project teams in selecting theappropriate tendering format for their major project, while covering thefundamentals of using negotiated RFP formats and navigating theheightened transparency and confidentiality issues that apply tocomplex projects.

Project GovernanceThe Art of Award: Strategic Execution

Art of Award training should provide practical guidance to help projectteams ensure procedural correctness in the design, drafting, andexecution of negotiated RFPs. This training should cover the strategicand tactical principles that apply to NRFP negotiations so that projectteams know how to protect themselves from sharp tactics duringnegotiations and understand the step-by-step process for moving fromsupplier selection to contract award.

Precision DraftingOverview

Precision Drafting training should be provided to everyone involved inthe preparation of solicitation documents across a public institution.This training should be a mandatory prerequisite to participating in anydrafting process.

Precision DraftingOverview

Training in solicitation drafting should cover:

1. Planning and Scoping2. Common Drafting Hazards3. The Laws of Interpretation4. Drafting Evaluation Criteria

Precision DraftingPlanning and Scoping

Planning and Scoping should cover the core document planning anddesign considerations needed to properly organize your draftingprocess and structure your tendering documents. This training shouldfocus on the need to co-ordinate your project team to develop a designplan that aligns and integrates scoping statements, specifications,material disclosures, evaluation requirements, pricing structures, andlegal agreements in your documents.

Precision DraftingCommon Drafting Hazards

Common Drafting Hazards should focus on avoiding unnecessarilycomplicated and cluttered tendering documents. This training shouldcover the importance of using plain language and highlight the risks oftechnical jargon, vague terms, clichés, filler, biased specifications,legalistic drafting, and unnecessary cross-referencing, acronyms, anddefinitions. Common drafting hazards should also cover the importanceof managing material disclosures.

Precision DraftingThe Laws of Interpretation

The Laws of Interpretation should cover the interpretive principlesand practices essential to creating clear tendering documents. Thistraining should explain how using tendering templates, leveraging thelaws of interpretation, and applying professional editing practices canhelp organize and structure your documents to maintain consistencyand avoid drafting delays. Drafting training should also highlight howimproper punctuation and sloppy shorthand can lead to interpretivedisputes and protracted legal battles.

Precision DraftingDrafting Evaluation Criteria

Drafting Evaluation Criteria should highlight the importance of clearevaluation requirements and transparent evaluation rules. This trainingshould cover the importance of distinguishing mandatory evaluationrequirements from post-award performance requirements, whilehighlighting the hazards of hidden criteria and identifying the keyconsiderations for properly structuring price evaluations. Evaluationcriteria training should also focus on drafting proper process rules tobetter ensure transparent evaluation and award procedures.

Deploying Advanced TrainingBroader Organizational Awareness

In summary, those purchasing institutions that are serious aboutserving the public interest should ensure that all personnel involved inthe procurement process have a proper understanding of theprocurement rules by proactively implementing procurement trainingprograms that promote a broader organizational awareness of properpublic procurement practices.

Procurement Resourcing

Strategies Part I: Filling the

Resource Gap


Paul EmanuelliManaging Director

The Procurement [email protected]

416-700-8528

Filling the Resource GapThe Seven Skills of a Public Procurement Professional

From navigating institutional governance to executing majorprojects, from leveraging flexible tendering formats tonegotiating critical contract details, from managingperformance disputes to launching smart procurementtechnologies, this presentation will cover the seven essentialprocurement skills purchasing departments should target fortheir next hiring or promotion decision.

Filling the Resource GapThe Seven Essential Skill Sets

Public sector procurement departments are underunprecedented pressure to deliver results for theirorganizations. Moving forward, these pressures are going toplace increasing demands on procurement departments todevelop highly functioning procurement teams. Thispresentation summarizes the seven essential skills you needto develop within your team and look for in your new recruits.

The Essential Skill Sets1. Institutional Governance

Institutional governance is the first essential skill set of apublic procurement professional. While many within the publicsector take their institutional governance for granted, knowinghow to implement and operate within a complex system ofinternal rules that include procurement accountability controls,integrity protocols and treaty compliance practices is muchharder than it may look from the outside. A solid understandingof public administration, including a clear understanding ofprocurement governance standards, is an essential skill formembers of your public procurement team.

The Essential Skill Sets2. Project Governance

Project governance is the second essential skill for publicprocurement professionals. All too often, project teams are leftto their own devices to drift away to suboptimal results.Procurement professionals need to know how to effectivelyintegrate themselves into project teams early to help manageinternal approvals, define roles and responsibilities, anddevelop and execute clear project plans.

The Essential Skill Sets3. Forms and Formats Knowledge

Knowledge and experience with a broad range of tenderingformats is the third essential skill in public procurement. Thedays of getting through the cycle by cutting and pastingreused content into a single “one-size-fits-all” tenderingtemplate are long gone. Today’s procurement professionalsneed to be well versed in all formats. From the simplestRequest for Quotation, to the fixed-bid Invitation to Tender, toPrequalification Frameworks and Negotiated Request forProposals, procurement professionals need to be ready to putall tendering options on the table in support of the objectivesof a project team.

The Essential Skill Sets4. Document Drafting

Document drafting is the fourth essential skill for a publicprocurement professional. Defining roles, managing workflowand creating readable documents within a multi-memberproject team is no easy task. In an industry where a misplacedcomma can result in a protracted lawsuit, and rushedtimeframes are standard operating procedure, razor sharpwriting and editing abilities are a critical survival skill.

The Essential Skill Sets5. Bidding Risks Management

Understanding how to manage bidding risks is the fifth criticalskill set for public procurement professionals. Due totransparency rules, a disproportionate number of governmentcontracts are put to tender. This results in a massive volumeof tendered contracts requiring clear scoping, materialdisclosures, and clear evaluation criteria and process rules.Since other members of a project team are typically not skilledin managing these issues, responsibility for advising on how todeal with these risks falls on members of your procurementteam.

The Essential Skill Sets6. Contract Administration

Contract administration is the sixth critical skill for a publicprocurement professional. From defining post-award contractadministration roles, to integrating scope managementpractices, to implementing contractor performance trackingsystems, other members of the project team are typicallycounting on the procurement department to lead the way inestablishing these procedures. This means that we need to bemore than process champions – we also need to understandthe details of the deal to assist in building proper contractmanagement tools.

The Essential Skill Sets7. Proactive Strategies, Leadership and Innovation

Leadership is the seventh critical skill for a public procurementprofessional. There are simply too may ways that things cango wrong during the procurement cycle to bank on reactiveapproaches. Succeeding in public procurement requires theadoption of proactive strategies. The implementation of thosestrategies calls for team members who can lead the way inactively promoting compliance across the organization, whiletracking industry trends and championing the adoption ofadvanced practices, procedures and technologies.

Filling the Resource GapThe Seven Essential Skill Sets

Building the seven essential skills should be basic training forany procurement team that is serious about meeting thechallenges of the current public procurement system.Individuals who come to the table with these skills are morelikely to rise through the ranks within institutions and acrossthe industry. They are also more likely to gravitate toorganizations that invest in and value these corecompetencies. Developing the seven essential skills thereforeserves a clear growth strategy on both the individual andinstitutional level.

http://procurementoffice.com/training/training-catalogues/


For more information please contact:

Paul EmanuelliManaging Director and General Counsel

Procurement [email protected]

416-700-8528

Marilyn BrownSenior Counsel


416-700-8531

Heather BakerSenior Procurement Advisor


416-700-8537

Julia MillsSenior Procurement Advisor


416-700-8530

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