The City of Carrollton was again awarded the prestigious Annual Achievement of Excellence in Procurement^® (AEP) Award in 2025 from the National Procurement Institute, Inc. (NPI).  

The AEP program encourages excellence in practices, and recognizes organizations that embrace innovation, professionalism, productivity, leadership, and e-procurement.

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

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

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 criterion 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 again awarded 140 points its submission – 40 points more than was needed to achieve an award of excellence.

In addition to the (NPI), the AEP is sponsored by the California Association of Public Procurement Officials, Canadian Public Procurement Council / Conseil canadien des marchés publics, Florida Association of Public Procurement Officials, Government Finance Officers Association, National Association of Educational Procurement, the NIGP: The Institute for Public Procurement. and the Texas Public Purchasing Association.

For 2025, there were 216 successful applicants including 85 cities, 48 counties, 23 special districts, 26 school districts, 15 higher education agencies, seven state or provincial agencies, and 12 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 again received an award of excellence in procurement.”

Winners have been officially announced and were recognized at NPI’s annual conference in October.

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