Assessing the profession

Associations focusing on procurement are especially important because improved procurement performance is essential to many high priority government reforms, such as reengineering government processes, cutting red tape and managing costs. The support these associations offer takes many forms, but intensive training and certifications are their most important link with individual practitioners. This article examines data from 1,591 survey respondents who reported public procurement experience, and many of these respondents reported membership in more than one association. Each of the knowledge and skill items on the survey had five response options ranging from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree." These four items were summed, and the score was transformed into an index with possible scores ranging from 20 to 100. (Four strongly agree responses produced a score of 100, and four strongly disagree responses produced a score of 20.) Continued professionalization of the procurement function is essential to effective government, and this survey offers some insights into where this effort stands today. The results show an average response of "agree" with a set of items asking whether public procurement certification improved knowledge and skills, and this is a positive finding. Professional associations are the primary source of systematic procurement knowledge, and these findings suggest that associations are successfully transmitting this knowledge to practicing procurement professionals.