On February 6th, 2004, the Achilles Group, the world's leading provider of supplier management solutions, and NIGP (National Institute of Governmental Purchasing) initiated the launch of a new Supplier Management Service for the North American public sector. Procurement professionals from eleven NIGP member agencies met at an event hosted by Achilles and NIGP, to form the Supplier Management Service's 'early adopter group'. This initiative is the result of the strategic partnership formed in August 2003 between Achilles and NIGP, to deploy a supplier management solution to all NIGP member agencies in North America, which will drive the adoption of supplier management best practices, increase efficiencies in supplier sourcing and minimize contract risks through performance management.
Procurement professionals from the City of Fort Lauderdale, University of Victoria, Miami-Dade County, City of Dallas, Children's Home Society of Florida, Detroit Public Schools Michigan, Fairfax County Water Authority, District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority, George Mason University, the District of Columbia and Harford Public Schools Maryland represent two Steering Groups working with NIGP and Achilles to configure and implement the web-based Supplier Management Service, which will be launched to suppliers and to all North American NIGP member agencies in Spring 2004.
NIGP
Organized in 1944, the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing (NIGP) is an international not-for-profit educational and technical organization of public purchasing agencies. The Institute is composed of 70 chapters and more than 2,200 agency members representing federal, state, provincial and local government levels throughout the United States and Canada. These agencies represent over 12,000 individuals serving the public procurement community.
The mission of the Institute is to enhance public procurement, promote the profession and preserve the public trust by providing expertise, direction, and leadership for members and other stakeholders.
"Like the development of the NIGP Commodity and Service Code in the 1970s, the Supplier Management Service provides a very exciting opportunity to fill a void in the marketplace by providing an incredible service to the profession" said Rick Grimm, CPPO, CPPB, and NIGP Chief Executive. "Public procurement desperately needs supplier management standards and a means of verifying the capability of suppliers. The profession also needs to minimize contract risks through performance management. The savings of public dollars will be substantial! As the premier association serving the public procurement community, NIGP has an obligation to provide leadership in developing these essential tools to our member agencies in North America. And we are privileged to partner with Achilles, a global leader in supplier management, in achieving these critical outcomes."
Achilles
Achilles is a global provider of supplier management, tender management and supply chain information services for the oil & gas, utilities, government, transportation and construction industries. With operations in 11 countries across the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific, Achilles' Internet-based procurement solutions deliver effective supplier relationship management to more than 500 purchasing organizations and 18,000 registered suppliers globally; streamlining supplier pre-qualification and sourcing processes, and managing the end-to-end procurement process, increasing supply chain efficiencies for both purchasers and suppliers.
The partnership with NIGP marks a key milestone for the Houston-based Achilles operation, which is focused on the deployment of Achilles Supplier Management Services to North American buying organizations and suppliers in the public sector, utilities and oil & gas industries.
"Through our partnership with NIGP, Achilles is able to offer all NIGP member procurement professionals a structured and proven approach to the supplier selection process" said Carole Kernohan, President of Achilles Information, Inc. "In addition to achieving cost reductions through more efficient management of supplier information, the Achilles web-based, hosted service will enable NIGP members to use performance management to improve relationships with critical suppliers and contractors, and focus on reducing risk with key contracts."