Young professional award winner stresses the importance of giving back to procurement profession

Annie Teav, the 2021 winner of NIGP’s Young Professional of the Year award, says new public procurement professionals should scope out career tools that can help them in their jobs. “Find as many resources as you can that can assist you when you need career help.” She says those resources can steer procurement novices to best practices, important case studies, guidance and potential allies, as well as new ideas.

Teav, who serves as functional lead for eProcurement and ERP Systems at Multnomah County, Ore.’s Purchasing Department, names the NIGP: The Institute for Public Procurement as a potential resource. She says the NIGP is “perhaps one of the best resources for those new in public service.” She urges procurement professionals to make a commitment to their profession: “With resources like NIGP and the opportunities to get involved, don’t shy away or sit back and just take, because if you can help contribute in any way, shape, or form, you’ll likely learn from that opportunity and your experiences and expertise will be that much more diversified.”

Teav says new procurement professionals who reach out can collaborate and consult with seasoned veterans. “There’s just something I can’t quite explain about the energy and benefits of knowing we’re not alone in solving some of our community’s biggest problems. Your ‘purchasing team’ is actually much greater than just the one-, two-, three- or 20- person team that you may see yourself immediately connected to.”

Teav urges purchasing staffers to be all-inclusive when choosing their colleagues and partners. “It’s just like sports; you want a deep bench,” she says. “Surround yourself with those who have been there and done that, but also surround yourself with others who are new to the profession. Together with other professionals, your efforts will be that much more valuable.”

Teav believes technology tools can help boost procurement productivity. “E-procurement software has really helped us to drive and automate some decisions we thought we needed to make. It has increased collaboration and accessibility to almost 24/7 levels—all of which are even more important with the increased prevalence of remote workplaces.” The Multnomah County procurement team relies on e-procurement software from Jaggaer.

Procurement squads need to consider a multitude of outcomes each day, Teav explains. “Decisions like ‘How many more days do I need to track this protest period?’ can be managed by systems in place—electronic systems that allow for collaboration like never before. No longer do we need to wait for someone to complete their review of the one copy of a document—we can all collaborate and see almost instantly everyone’s latest thoughts and ideas.”

Teav says technology can potentially free our minds of decisions we don’t really need to make (or can even change). “We can use that time and energy to focus on things that are more complex, that maybe have greater risk/reward, that have impacts that we can actually influence—that’s where we can and should really look to software and platforms that allow for greater productivity.”

Teav says purchasing departments’ technology setups will have the following characteristics in the future: “Artificial Intelligence? For sure. Comprehensive encryption? Absolutely.” She adds: “It’s not necessarily new technologies that I think we have/need. It’s really more about how we have all of our technologies and systems sync together—having just a couple is better than having a ton.” She explains that having a couple of technologies that talk to each other is what is most important in 2021. “Right now there are so many platforms and so many options. It’s honestly kind of exciting and somedays even nerve-racking to think of all of the things we are just ‘testing.’ We are just at the beginning of it all.”

For agencies that are considering installing an e-procurement system, Teav suggests that they look at the settings that the developer prescribes. “Try and see why the developer is recommending the settings and use of their tools the way they are; most likely these recommendations come from experience with other customers and their needs and use.” Teav offers this advice: “Out of the box isn’t so bad, and often is quicker to implement. From there you might consider customizing, but just like most high-tech gadgets you buy in life, give it a run out of the box first before customizing.”

Teav believes that cooperative purchasing agreements can potentially save time and boost productivity for public procurement departments. “That’s why we see year-over-year increased use of cooperative language contracts.” Teav cautions, however, that cooperative deals often have consequences that need to be fully analyzed and discussed prior to adopting them.

As procurement squad members retire or move on to other jobs, Teav urges managers to recruit from within the larger agency. “More consideration should be given to what ‘experience’ truly needs to look like. Sometimes, we may actually have a lot to gain for our procurement teams by picking up staff from other departments who may be able to help us understand our customers better and can learn our procurement rules and processes.”

To recruit interns and other young professionals, Teav speculates that jurisdictions might benefit from hosting a “Take a Student to Work Day”-type of event to generate interest in procurement careers. “It would be like a ‘Take Your Child to Work Day,’ but chaperoning high school and college students who are even slightly interested might be worth a shot.”

Michael Keating is senior editor for American City & County. Contact him at [email protected]