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NIPG-CPP Module B QUESTIONS WITH
COMPLETE SOLUTIONS
Sandra is devising a list of "Procurement Truths" for adherence by her department staff. Which truth should she include? correct answer: procurement is a customer service oriented function for the entity Which of the following statements best describes the purpose of a public procurement department? correct answer: to maximize the value of taxpayer dollars and maintain public trust Carlos' team recently released a process for pCard approvals. What challenges should he anticipate? correct answer: resistance by other members to complying with the new process requirements What type of data can Nailah use to determine if her procurement department is meeting cost savings goals? correct answer: spend William may make changes in the Procurement Department. What is his first step when considering a new process? correct answer: identifying a need for change What is an appropriate first step for Stacy to take to change her organization's culture? correct answer: Have one-on-one meetings with her staff Angelica's team is creating steps for requisition processing. Which of the statements describe why implementing processes is important? Use of processes promotes: correct answer: efficiency, fairness, and transparency Sean is reviewing is organization's values, customs, and beliefs. Which of the following is Sean reviewing? correct answer: culture
How can Cynthia successfully develop entity staff to work more as a productive, cohesive team in the future? correct answer: recruit for skills and hire for suitability in the office As a procurement manager, which strategy can Fatima employ to encourage a good perception by the office stakeholders? correct answer: create a fair balance between internal customers and suppliers The Chief Procurement Officer has asked Cicily to define standards for next fiscal year's performance. What is she describing? correct answer: benchmarks Shawn's colleagues have very little confidence in her staff's abilities. Which is the best strategy for Shawn to use to bein creating change? correct answer: promote the procurement function A school district buyer has a mandate from the Board to increase SWMBE (small, woman-owned, minority-owned business enterprise) opportunities. Which of the following would be the best step for her to take in order to do so? correct answer: engage disadvantaged business enterprises (DBE) in procurements, which require little to no competition A Construction Manager is developing plans to ensure the project is LEED Certified. Which of the following is among the 8 categories should she consider? correct answer: water efficiency A procurement specialist in a large city in the planning stages of a waste management contract in a municipality in which labor unions are prevalent. Which is a concern that may be addressed in the solicitation? correct answer: worker safety in the supply chain An entity would like to invite more participation by local businesses. Which strategy may the Procurement Officer use to do so? correct answer: speaking at local Chamber of Commerce meetings
processional is comfortable providing the information, but know that their procurement department colleagues have had problems with staff from the client's department in the past. What should you do? correct answer: Send them a quick confirming email, copied to their supervisor, and the appropriate contract administrator to ensure that there's no confusion about what was discussed You need a few widgets to continue your day to day operations. Central Purchasing has an enterprise-wide contract for widgets and you can order the quantity you need from the price agreement for $7,500.00. Then you notice that you can get the same (quality and quantity) widgets on-line for only $7,250.00. And if you place the order this week you will get a 25-piece tool set (sent to your home). Since you will be saving your agency money you can place order on-line and get the tool set too since they are sending it to your residence. correct answer: the enterprise-wide contract commits your entity to purchase all widgets from the awarded supplier, so you must order from the contract Within the first six months of employment with the city, a procurement professional is assigned to handle the mailing services contract (valued at $125,000 annually,) which must be re-competed since all available renewal options on the existing contract have been exercised. Upon reviewing the file, the procurement professional notices that a mailing company that is owned by his godmother's brother has won the contract the last two times it was completed. The end user has been satisfied with the performance and has directed the procurement professional to make sure this company is on the list of companies to be solicited for the new contract. What should the procurement professional do in this situation? correct answer: Advise the supervisor of a possible appearance of a conflict of interest When engaging with end users in a procurement, which of the following is the most efficient strategy to build a relationship with an end user? correct answer: learn the history of past decisions made surrounding the purchase
Edward, a procurement manager for an entity, meets with stakeholders to discuss the implementation of an employee training program. Edward presents projected savings resulting from the training program. Which one of the four types of public speaking is Edward using when presenting to the stakeholders? correct answer: speaking to persuade Jill, an entity employee from the operations department, is questioning the procurement rules that are in place. Jill states that she prefers to obtain supplier quotes herself without regard to the entity's established contracts with suppliers. She also expresses that Procurement takes too long when her requisition is submitted. Which of the following is the most likely reason for the conflict with Jill, the client? correct answer: The client is not properly educated on Procurement's role within the entity Which of the following tools will best convey to Jill that the procurement process is fiscally responsible and capable of meeting her requirements? correct answer: procurement process map Which of the following is most likely to help procurement professionals when facing intimidation by a client? correct answer: having a standard process for reviewing requests Mark, a procurement professional for a community college with multiple campuses, is hoping to standardize to a specific brand and model of lawn movers to reduce the stock repair parts the college must keep on hand. Which of the following reasons would be a valid justification to standardize? correct answer: reduce operational and administrative costs LaTasha has been directed by the Procurement Director to find ways to conduct strategic sourcing initiatives. Which of the following activities should LaTasha NOT implement to achieve this goal? correct answer: poll entity stakeholders to determine the preferred method of procurement
there are additional costs associated with holding inventory, and capital items are at risk of depreciation. The strategic goals of the city include cost efficiency, quality of life, and environmental awareness. An important new initiative started by the CPO to train buyers in negotiation for increasing cost savings is well underway. Ben, a buyer who has received the training, is negotiating an energy contract that has the potential for another $1 M in savings in addition to the $5M savings offered by the supplier; however, the supplier has offered the city access to land and assistance for building bikeways and green areas that the community can enjoy. The deal would benefit the environment as it will increase the use of LED lights and improve the position of the Procurement Department by securing the additional savings. Ben presents the situation to the CPO. How should the CPO respond? correct answer: Accept the deal The county is undergoing an efficiency audit and Procurement has been directed to address end user complaints on the length of the procurement process. The Procurement Dept. has put in place multi-year and cost effective county-wide contracts, but department end-users still solicit quotes from suppliers outside the contracts for small purchases, claiming it is faster to go through the quote process. This is causing additional work for buyers. Without a good way to disseminate contract information attempts to enforce the use of established contracts have failed. Procurement is ready to implement a system that will increase compliance with current contracts, reduce work for Procurement staff, and enable the county to realize negotiated savings upfront. To get buy in and align this change with organization goal, Procurement's communication regarding this system should focus on which of the following? correct answer: the enhanced procurement experience for end users, due to the implementation of a user-friendly system that allows end users to significantly cut down on the time that they spend trying to purchase the items they need.
One of the goals of the city is to improve its processes to be more environmentally-friendly and be a leader in automation. The Procurement Department developed written policies, forms, and self- help guides for end users. All of this material is available on the intranet. However, all requests must be submitted in hard copy to the procurement department because a wet signature is required in the existing procedures. The forms need to be updated to reflect some changes that have been made in the last two years. Jim was assigned the project of improving the form submission process. Jim knows that no money will be made available for the implementation of a system that would enable greater automation; therefore, Jim should recommend which of the following? correct answer: recommend streamlining the process by maximizing available technology and updating the written procedures to enable the process change Pam's group has been receiving a high number of requests for urgent solicitations. Many of those requests have incomplete scope/specification descriptions. This has caused them to fall behind on their workload. She came up with a triage strategy, but it will require the team to shift some project assignments within her team. What step should Pam take to increase the chance of buy-in? correct answer: invite feedback and critique Which statement below best describes a practice a leader can use to become more innovative? correct answer: suspend the belief that there is only one answer to any question Which of the following is NOT a strategy that leadership should use the improve performance of a team? correct answer: refrain from recognizing individuals for success Hedgeworth Housing Authority is updating its website. They have asked the Procurement Dept. to identify what it would like to highlight on the primary website, where citizens and business owners in Hedgeworth visit to learn about the Authority. You can only highlight one thing. You
Which scenario below best represents a cause in a problem? correct answer: to increase the pool of suppliers, measures are implemented to increase transparency Which of the following best describes a root cause analysis? correct answer: determines what happened and how it happened The Procurement Dept. issued an IFB for the purchase of boxes to store court files. All bids are higher than expected. Lisa was asked to come up with a solution, and she has developed various alternatives to acquire the boxes. What step should Lisa take next? correct answer: determine the benefits and disadvantages of each option Doug is assigned the project of analyzing the best course of action to improve the performance of the contract compliance group. The group is doing many good things, but there is room for improvement. Which tool is the best option for Doug to use to improve the performance of the contract compliance group? correct answer: SWOT analysis You are telecommuting from home during a national emergency. Your entity provided you a laptop and monitor for your use while working from home. Your high school student asks to use the equipment to connect to a study group. What do you decide? correct answer: deny your student use of either equipment or account Sabrina is your procurement colleague at Denali County. You are both Procurement Managers and have both been with Denali many years. Sabrina manages contracts for goods and services. Sabrina is a good friend, an excellent manager, and well-liked by staff. During a series of conversations with Sabrina about her new personal business startup, you begin to learn that Sabrina has been using an IT contractor who has a large contract with Denali. In fact, Sabrina has shared what an excellent rate she got for the services, given her close working relationship with the IT contractor. Sabrina is doing the work on her own time with her
own money. You decide: correct answer: You need to approach Sabrina and discuss the matter with her directly to ensure you have the facts. This is possible a violation of the procurement ethics policy Meredith is a newly promoted procurement manager at Hillside University over a team of twelve procurement professionals. Her office is extremely busy and staff is stressed due to the workload. Also, they are complaining about their colleague Joe and the time it takes him to process their solicitations. Joe is a longtime procurement employee, a former colleague and you know, as a former peer, he wasn't viewed as someone who "pulled his weight on the team. Non of the previous managers have addressed the issue with Joe. What should Meredith do? correct answer: Work with Joe to create a Work Improvement Plan that will identify expectations, specific actions, and timelines to demonstrate improvement The Procurement Department has recently experienced a high staff turnover. Currently, this is only one senior buyer and three junior buyers. The high staff turnover has created an opportunity for a junior to move up. What type of training does the Procurement Dept. need to provide the junior buyers to ensure they are ready for a higher-level position? correct answer: vertical training Daniel, the Chief Procurement Officer, has decided to retire in two years after 35 years' service. Anne has shown an interest in moving into a leadership position. She has a solid understanding of procurement best practices but could benefit from someone in a leadership role mentoring her in becoming a leader. What is the process used to identify and prepare employees for higher level position? correct answer: succession planning Grace is a newly hired Chief Procurement Official for Redford County. The agency has struggled to get suppliers to respond to solicitations and she has heard that there is low interest from the supplier community in engaging with the County. She is meeting with her new team to discuss.
should the CPO take to assure the entity's end users are adequately trained on an ongoing basis? correct answer: post the procurement policy/procedure manual on the entity's intranet You are the CPO of a new procurement division in Leadville School District. The CFO has tasked you with developing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the next fiscal year. Since you are starting from scratch, you decide your best course of action is: correct answer: engage your internal and external stakeholders to assist you in developing KPIs that are most appropriate for your entity Sergio is the Procurement Supervisor at Borland Transportation District. A number of key clients at Borland have expressed frustration that procurement's policies and service levels don't meet their needs. Procurement has operated under a set of established performance metrics for the past 8 years and has always exceeded their established targets. You are Sergio's supervisor and the client complaints have been brought to your attention. Sergio and his team do a good job as demonstrated by exceeding their performance metrics. You decide to: correct answer: meet with Sergio to discuss reviewing and revising the performance metrics with stakeholder input You are developing revised KPIs for your procurement team. Your City Manager has asked you to engage some stakeholders who have expressed some fairly radical ideas about measures for procurement. They do not align with industry best practices nor your perspective from years of experience in procurement management. As you plan for the meetings to discuss the KPI changes, you decide it is best to manage your concerns by: correct answer: inviting a cross-section of stakeholders, including those who have historically challenged procurement, to vet all ideas for KPIs, ensuring everyone's perspective is represented
What is the BEST reason why public entities should develop a continuity of operations plan? correct answer: entities should develop plans to ensure essential functions can be performed under all conditions Sierra, a Procurement Director is developing her department's Continuity of Operations Plan. Which step should she do first to determine her department's essential functions? correct answer: document then list all procurement functions Madison, a Procurement Agent, is feeling overwhelmed. She knows that she needs to write a Continuity of Operations plan but feels that there are too many unknowns to prepare for. What should Madison do to prepare? correct answer: identify potential risks, then assess the likelihood of them occuring Colby, a procurement professional has been tasked with preparing a workplace preparedness kit for the Procurement Department. What types of items should go in Colby's preparedness kit? correct answer: updated supplier list, current emergency policy and procedures manual, passwords and login information for all financial sites, laptop and charger, paper requisitions and purchase orders, employee contact list, including emergency contact numbers Cheryl is her city's first Director of Procurement Operations, and is centralizing purchasing under one governmental department for the first time in their town's history. When working with the Mayor's Office to establish the role, Cheryl was asked to describe the relationship and boundaries of her new role along with the Director of Finance. Which of the following is NOT a section of her role that she should highlight? correct answer: procurement professionals analyze the large-scale spend of respective departments to inform budgeting hierarchy in their entities Nikki is overseeing the procurement of furniture and office supplies for a new school and realizes that all of the necessary funds for the procurement of these materials will not be immediately available. Based
