For the second consecutive and fourth time overall, the National Procurement Institute (NPI) has recognized Anne Arundel County Public Schools’ Purchasing Office as one of the best in the United States.
The 2013 Achievement of Excellence in Procurement Award puts AACPS’ Purchasing Office in elite company. Just six organizations in Maryland and 23 across the United States earned the award.
The award measures “innovation, professionalism, e-procurement, productivity, and leadership,” according to the NPI. Agencies are judged on 19 different criteria, including the education and certification of personnel, professional qualifications and knowledge, delivery of service, efficiency, and operational transparency.
“The work of our Purchasing Office, like many of the departments on the business side of our operation, is seldom seen by the public at large, but its efforts are critical to the efficient operation of our school system,” said AACPS Chief Operating Officer Alex L. Szachnowicz. “The public deserves to know that our school system is acting responsibly with the resources entrusted to it, and this recognition is evidence that we are doing so.”