Spring 2016 Volume 1, Issue 5

Peach State Procurement

Tammy formerly served as Purchasing Agent for the City of San Diego, the 9th largest city in the

nation. Over her tenure, she purchased over $1 Billion (YES – B!) worth of commodities and

services. During the 2007 Witch Creek Fires that destroyed over 2000 homes and the Mt.

Soledad landslide in one of San Diego’s most exclusive neighborhoods, she served as the

Emergency Logistics Chief. Tammy was in charge of centralizing the city’s purchasing and

warehouse operations and implemented the City’s first environmentally preferred purchasing

program and moved the surplus property operations to online auctions to increase revenue.

Her consolidation efforts of the warehouses resulted in a $1.4M savings during the first year.

Her team won the Achievement in Excellence Award from the National Purchasing Institute

each year she was in management.

Live the Life of Your Dreams…While Working the Day Job!

If Your Customers Had a Choice, Would They Choose You?

Alligator Presentations: How to give those tough presentations

Shades of Grey: Passion in Purchasing

By Greg Brown, CPPO, CPPB, MPA -

Awards Chairman

GPAG is blessed to have a strong,

professional membership base that is

highly respected throughout the

United States. Our membership has

vast amounts of knowledge and expe-

rience regarding public procurement.

The majority of this experience and

expertise resonates from the out-

standing conferences GPAG has been

putting on since its inception many

years ago. There is a wide array of

knowledge to be gained by attending

the Spring and Fall conferences of-

fered by GPAG. Couple that with the

networking opportunities that are

present and you will be setting your-

self on the pathway to success.

GPAG awards two Tom Dykes

scholarships for the Spring and Fall

conferences each year. The scholar-

ship is provided for those members

in good standing whose agency will

not pay for the member to attend

GPAG conferences due to budgetary

reasons. The 2016 Tom Dykes Schol-

arship winners for the GPAG Spring

Signature Conference on May 3 – May

6, 2016 are Bonnie McNabb, City of

Smyrna, and Lisa Rodriguez, Cobb

County. Congratulations to each of

you and we look forward to seeing

you at the conference.

The Darrell Strange Award was creat-

ed to recognize an outstanding GPAG

member each year who goes above

and beyond for the Chapter or pro-

fession. No members were nominat-

ed this year for consideration. Let me

encourage everyone next year to,

please take just a few minutes and

write a nomination letter for a de-

serving member.

Tammy Rimes

Keynote Speaker

GPAG Spring Signature Conference

Hear Tammy Rimes

Address these

Intriguing Topics

If Your Customers

Had a Choice,

Would They Choose

You?

Shades of Grey:

Passion in

Purchasing

Tammy formerly served as Purchasing Agent for the City of San Diego, the 9th largest city in the nation. Over her tenure, she purchased over $1 Billion (YES – B!) worth of commodi-ties and services. During the 2007 Witch Creek Fires that destroyed over 2000 homes and the Mt. Soledad landslide in one of San Diego’s most exclusive neighborhoods, she served as the Emergency Logistics Chief. Tam-my was in charge of centralizing the city’s pur-chasing and warehouse operations and imple-mented the City’s first environmentally pre-ferred purchasing program and moved the surplus property operations to online auctions to increase revenue. Her consolidation efforts of the warehouses resulted in a $1.4M savings during the first year. Her team won the Achievement in Excellence Award from the National Purchasing Institute each year she was in management.

May 3-6, 2016

In case you think her only experience has been with government work, Tammy takes her passion of horses with her husband’s passion of wine, and combines them into a successful family business, Hacienda de las Rosas Winery, with a successful tasting room in Ramona which has been featured on the front page of USA Today, San Diego Un-ion-Tribune and winner of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year in Marketing. (continued on page 2)

Spring Reverse Trade Show

Announced for June 3rd

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Tammy Rimes—continued…

As the author of “Drink Fine Wine…Ride Fine Horses – Leading the Life of Your Dreams,” she provides a fun and in-formative guideline, with real stories, on how others can begin their own dream life. With a Master’s degree in Public Ad-ministration, she also has a corporate sales background, having worked for Sears, Tandy Corporation, Color Tile and Eastern Airlines. Tammy has the unique perspective of working in three different worlds – corporate, government and en-trepreneurial! Hear Tammy Rimes on Wednesday morning, May 4th, from 8:15—12:15 and on Thursday morning, May 5th, from 8—10.

“Friend” the Face-book Page

What is the instant way to find out what GPAG members are doing? Check out the new GPAG on Facebook! When you are on FB, put Govern-mental Procurement Association of Georgia in the search. We have over 240 GPAG members and less than 50 Friends.!!!

KSU Center

Kennesaw State University 3333 Busbee Drive

Kennesaw, Georgia 30144

Governmental Procurement Association of Georgia's

2016 Spring Reverse Trade Show Friday, June 3, 2016

10:00 AM - 2:00 PM

This event will draw vendors and company representatives from throughout the region and the state, and is a great way to learn about new products and ser-vices that can help make your procurement job easier. EXHIBIT SPACE IS FREE for government agency purchasing departments (cities, towns, counties, school districts, etc.). Each exhibit space includes lunch for up to FOUR agency representatives.

Bring your table top displays, table throw or skirt, and any literature about your agency. This is your opportunity to make your entity shine. Wi-Fi access is available in the exhibit area. If you need electricity for your booth space, please indicate this on the registration form.

Reserve your space today. You may reserve more than one exhibit location, but a separate registration is required for each display area. NOTE: You may submit up to four (4) registrants per order. For additional attendees, please submit a separate order.

REGISTER AT www.gpag.net

New Venue!

Scenes from past Reverse Trade

Shows where new relationships

are made.

Don’t Miss This Event!!!

UPCOMING NIGP FREE WEBINARS

Webinar - The Ins and Outs of the

Uniform Grant Guidance for Gov-

ernments - May 18, 2016

Webinar - Being Ethical: It’s Not

Always Easy! - June 8, 2016

Webinar - Alligator Presentations:

How to have a tough skin…big

smile…in front of a tough audience.

-July 13, 2016

Sign up TODAY at http://www.nigp.org/ Free for NIGP Members

GPAG’s Joe Tommie Recognized

The Cobb County Board of Commissioners has presented Joe Tommie, Cobb’s Director of Purchasing, presented with the coveted Silver Eagle Award. The Silver Eagle Award program recognizes a member of the Cobb County management team who has demonstrated teamwork and exhibited outstanding leadership throughout the calendar year. Tommie was selected by his fellow management team members through an election process.

According to his peers, Tommie exemplifies all attributes of a great manag-er and colleague; listens attentively to their needs, ideas and initiatives; al-ways responds with a “can-do attitude”; understands each department’s purchasing needs and challenges; gives the support and direction needed to make sound decisions; and responds timely with the county’s best interests at heart.

Joe is certainly a valuable asset for GPAG with his conference presentations and work on the Reverse Trade Shows. Congratulations to Joe for his ef-forts and this outstanding achievement. We are so happy he left South Carolina!!!

GPAG Executive Team Met

Governor Nathan Deal

to Proclaim

March as Purchasing Month

4 Brain-Saving Tips to Cut Stress and Boost Productivity

by Anne Grady

People who operate at high levels of intensity for long periods can actually get addicted to the “high” of adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol, and so adrenaline and stress can be making us sick.

According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, two-thirds of all office visits to family physicians are due to stress-related symptoms. Stress is linked to the six leading causes of death: heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis of the liver, and suicide.

In the midst of information overload, endless tasks, and unhealthy addiction to stress, here are four ways we can stop multitasking and the damage it can be doing to our health:

1. Find Your Priorities. Look at the areas of your life that matter to you. Possible areas include career, finance, family,

health, relationships, social life, attitude, and personal growth. Realize that some areas should take priority over others. Focus on one priority at a time.

2. Set Priorities. Rank how you feel you are doing in each area that’s important to you, from 1 to 10 (poor to perfect). Look

at where you can make slight changes. Your goal isn’t necessarily going from a 2 to 10. The goal is making slight edge changes, like going from a 2 to a 4.

3. Devote Yourself to What Matters. Identify your top three to five priorities and spend 80 percent of your time on them

without apologizing for it. Schedule time for your priorities. If necessary, save money for them. Make sure you have emotional and physical energy for them.

Cut Out the Interruptions. To cut down stress and increase productivity, take steps to cut out the interruptions caused by multitasking, constantly checking e-mail ad texts, and staying glued to social media. Each interruption can waste between 10 to 15 minutes of your work day, including time to re-engage in the task you were doing before being interrupted.

If we save 30 minutes a day being more productive—the time it takes for two or three interruptions—that is the equivalent of having an extra 22 days a year. Turn off your new mail alert, turn off your technology, and do one thing at a time.

Ann Grady, founder and president. Acclivity Performance and the Anne Grady Group, Round Rock, Texas, is author of 52 Strategies for Life, Love, and Work (anne@annegradygroup.com; www.annegradeygroup.com).

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Peach State

Procurement

Peach State Procurement

is the current official

newsletter of the Govern-

mental Procurement As-

sociation of Georgia

(GPAG)

It is produced quarterly by

the Public Relations / His-

torical Committee, Penny

Murphy, Chair. Other

Committee members are

Cindy Fay, Stacy Hobson,

Mendi Boddie, Duane

Studdard.

To submit articles or pho-

tos, please send to Penny

M u r p h y a t

pmurphy@smyrnaga.gov

The newsletters are pub-

lished prior to the next

general business meeting

or conference each quar-

ter.

Contributors to the

Spring Edition include:

Stephanie Brice, Elaine

Wilson, Greg Brown and

Cindy Fay and Anne

Grady.

Editor: Penny Murphy,

C.P.M.

From the Trenches...

Business/Vendor Expo: “I Won the Battle, BUT Lost the War …”

By Cindy Fay, CPPB/GCPM/GCPA

It was long overdue. The City had been replacing our manual system with a self-service

Vendor Registry system for over six months and still had a lot fewer registered vendors

than we did with our manual system. Trying to keep both systems current seemed futile.

The reasons to have a Business/Vendor Expo were as varied as they were numerous:

“We have sent this check request back twice already because the department did not get

the vendor to register” (Accounting)

“What do you mean I can’t buy this because they are not registered?” (Departments)

“We need to reach out to our local businesses and get them more in-

volved.” (Commissioners)

“Why do I need to do this when I have done business with the City for many

years?” (Vendors)

“Anyone is eligible to submit a bid, but no award can be made to someone that is not

registered” (Procurement)

“I can’t get three quotes. Can I still get this?” (Departments)

“We need to let the local vendors know that we do care.” (Mayor)

It was needed. Besides, how hard could it be? Larger cities do small business workshops

all the time and this should not be much different. And so it began.

I did some mental planning and thought I was on the right track. I talked to a business

that sponsored the lunch at a meeting I went to; I talked to event planners; I talked to

vendors; I talked to contractors; I talked to Commissioners; I talked to everyone I could

in order to get information. I was ready, or so I thought. Along the way I learned a lot of

lessons:

Lesson #1 – Never plan a business event on a Friday. People want to clean up their week

and leave early on Fridays. They may even say they are going to the event so they can

leave work early.

Lesson #2 – Make sure your intended audience benefits from the event. They need to

want to come.

Lesson #3 – If possible, never make an event all day. People are busy and you will have

much better luck if you do not obligate a full day.

Lesson #4 – Mail and emails do not work. You need that personal touch through calls

and visits.

Lesson #5 – Plan for the unexpected. It WILL happen.

Lesson #6 – Make sure any rules are stated (multiple times) and prominently displayed.

Lesson #7 – No matter how much you plan, you can’t control everything.

Lesson number 7 hit me hardest. Everything had been planned and executed to a tee.

Everything was in place, perfect and ready. The “Build it and they will come” mentality

ran through my head. I was waiting for the long lines that we all saw in Field of Dreams.

That never happened. I started with and stayed focused on the end result throughout the

process; we did everything right. I painfully learned that it does not matter how spectacu-

lar the event is if it does not fill the rooms. Once you truly have your audience, the rest is

just logistics. As far as the “What went right, What went wrong and What could I have

done better” - I am still working on the “What I could have done better”. The war will

continue. 4