The City of Carrollton was awarded the prestigious 2024 Annual Achievement of Excellence in Procurement^® (AEP) Award from the National Procurement Institute, Inc. (NPI).  

Carrollton is one of 20 first-time recipients of the award and one of 45 in the state of Texas. The AEP program encourages the development of excellence in purchasing as well as continued organizational improvement to earn the award annually.

The application is designed to encourage procurement professionals to go beyond the minimum commodity buying requirements as set yearly by the AEP sponsors and to recognize innovative programs and solutions that exemplify outstanding achievements. The award not only focuses on practical, documented work but also recognizes leadership and contributions that further advance the public procurement profession.

“Carrollton’s purchasing team gathered and provided evidence to NPI documenting the City’s support of a set of standards showing the City’s compliance with best practices,” Carrollton Director of Finance Melissa Everett said. “It takes a few months to complete and prepare the submission, and I am very proud we have brought home the NPI’s 2024 Achievement of Excellence in Procurement award.”

Each applicant must obtain at least 100 points by submitting narrative statements and examples of processes that demonstrate:

• The establishment of an ethics and internal purchasing policy
• Periodic and ongoing training to those policies for both purchasing and non-purchasing staff
• A professional development program for staff
• The use of technology in the sourcing, bid, evaluation, award, and distribution of purchase orders
• Strategies related to purchasing credit card management, contract management, bids and evaluations development
• The establishment of best-practice standards across the organization
• Adherence to state and/or federal statutes

These statements and processes represent 18 criteria to submit against for a maximum total of 200 points. Each criteria is worth 5 or 10 points. The NPI evaluation committee determines if an applicant meets these criteria based on the narrative submission, examples, website links, and screenshots, or other documentation as needed. If the total points add up to at least 100, the application is successful, and the award is given. The City of Carrollton was awarded 140 points for their submission – 40 points more than was needed to achieve an award of excellence.

The AEP Award is earned by those agencies demonstrating excellence by obtaining a high score based on criteria designed to measure innovation, professionalism, e-procurement, productivity, and leadership attributes of the procurement organization.

The submissions are evaluated by a group of professionals who span the United States, and includes members from the National Procurement Institute, the California Association of Public Procurement Officials, the Florida Association of Public Procurement Officials, the NIGP (National Institute of Governmental Purchasing, Inc.): The Institute for Public Procurement, the National Association of Educational Procurement, the Texas Public Purchasing Association, the Canadian Public Procurement Council / Conseil Canadien Des Marchés Publics, and a group of seven At Large Evaluators from California, Florida, Georgia, Minnesota, and three from Texas.

For 2024, there were 198 successful applicants including 72 cities, 49 counties, 25 special districts, 23 school districts, 16 higher education agencies, five state or provincial agencies, and eight others.

“The award represents a commitment to Carrollton residents for sound procurement principles,” Everett said. “The AEP continues to be recognized as the premier award in the public procurement profession, and the City is very honored to have received an award of excellence in procurement.”

Winners have been officially announced and will be recognized on Tuesday, October 15 at NPI’s annual conference.

To learn more about the City of Carrollton’s Purchasing Department, visit cityofcarrollton.com/purchasing.