Cherokee County Procurement Department Earns Reaccreditation

CHEROKEE COUNTY, GA — Cherokee County’s Procurement Department has received an additional three years of accreditation from NIGP: The Institute for Public Procurement, a prestigious designation only given to the top procurement departments in the nation.

“The Procurement team works diligently to ensure Cherokee County vendors are vetted and contracts are competitive in the market, saving taxpayer dollars,” Administrative Services Agency Director Stacey Williams said. “I would like to thank Procurement Director Dale Jordan and his team for their hard work in preparing the submission to NIGP and for their continued dedication to making the procurement department one of the best in the nation.”

Originally accredited in 2017, Cherokee County is one of only 53 and government bodies across the country and one in four across the state to have current accreditations. The procurement department is responsible for the design, execution, auditing and continuous improvement of the procurement process, which has been approved by the Board of Commissioners and defined in Cherokee County’s Procurement Ordinance.

“The benefits of going through the accreditation process are many, but perhaps the greatest advantage to applying for this recognition is that it challenges the organization to evaluate its practices and processes against the best practices in government purchasing across the country,” Jordan said. “We are very fortunate to have Cherokee County leadership’s trust and support of our stewardship over the procurement process.”

The Quality Public Procurement Departments accreditation requirements are updated periodically to reflect the best practices in government purchasing. This year, there were more than 120 criteria, of which a minimum of 100 were required to be met for accreditation requirements. The accreditation addresses the purchasing process holistically and has criteria built around several categories, including mission and strategies, organization, authority and responsibility, planning and scheduling, standards and specifications, personnel and professional development, best practices, audits and evaluations, cooperative procurement, property management and use of technology.