9:00 AM - 6:00 PM Eastern
For the public procurement professional, the ability to think strategically for both the procurement function and the larger governmental entity as a whole is critical to serving the communities in which we live and work. Designed to outline proactive, applicable approaches to ensuring best practice guidance and implementation, NIGP’s Foundations of Planning and Analysis Core Certificate empowers novice public procurement professionals to better identify and articulate the goals and objectives of public procurement. Outlining and exploring critical skills such as strength and weakness evaluation, opportunities and threat analysis, and stakeholder-end user engagement, the Foundations of Planning and Analysis certificate prepares learners with base-level interactive and exercise-driven instruction, providing best practice guidance to help you not only lead your entity to successful risk-averse strategy but also to secure the best benefit for stakeholders and communities alike.
Course Date + Time
Wednesday, May 13 + Thursday, May 14, 2026 at 9:00am - 6:00pm ET - learners must participate in both days in full to earn their course certificate
Instructor
Lynda Allair, NIGP-CPP, CPPO
Learning Objectives
Upon successful completion of the certificate, the certificate holder will be able to:
- Analyze the requirements for a project and provide the best solutions for the entity.
- Determine the components and criteria required to successfully award a contract that meets the needs of the end user.
- Describe how to customize terms and conditions in a contract to meet the entity’s needs.
- Evaluate, select, and apply the tools and processes available for a comprehensive procurement plan.
- Analyze the requirements of various internal stakeholders in order to adopt one set of specifications for commonly procured commodities.
- Design contracts that satisfy the shared needs of multiple internal stakeholders to promote efficiency of the procurement function.
- Evaluate cost and price data to determine total cost of ownership to an entity.
- Compare the price of a commodity against the benefit to be derived by the entity to determine whether the expenditure is justifiable.
This offering is targeted to individuals who meet or exceed the following professional demographics:
- Entry-level public procurement and central warehouse professionals who serve as assistants, coordinators, buyers, or equivalent functions within their respective entities.
- Non-procurement managers and supervisors who are responsible for either the procurement function or staff who provide procurement functions under delegated authority.
- Professionals who are employed by governing entities and special authorities (such as K-12 and higher education, publicly-owned utilities, transportation providers, and other publicly-funded or created organizations) that either serve within or manage the procurement function.
- Suppliers or representatives of suppliers seeking to understand the public procurement function from a holistic level, including the policies, standards, and procedures by which public entities must function.
Completion Requirements
In order to successfully complete the NIGP Foundations of Planning & Analysis Certificate, learners must:
- Complete any pre-work materials provided prior to the course start date.
- Attend and participate in the entirety of the instructional event.
- Complete the post-course evaluation survey available.
Competency Alignment
This certificate is designed as an exercise-based learning experience and is tied to NIGP’s Public Procurement Competency Framework. Upon completion of the certificate requirements, learners will have demonstrated the successful knowledge, skills, and abilities in alignment with the following competencies:
- Requirements Planning and Understanding
- Standardization
- Cost, Price, and Value Analysis
OPBA Member Early Bird Rate [Mar 17 - Apr 17]: $545.79
OPBA Member Regular Rate [Apr 18 - May 6]: $654.27
OPBA Non-Member Rate [Mar 17 - May 6]: $767.27
*please note, course registration fees are set at a special rate for this pilot
Registration
This course requires a minimum of 8, maximum of 24, learners to move ahead. There will be a $25 late fee applied to join this course after the registration deadline. Please email members@opba.ca to request a late registration.
Cancellation Policy: important note, this pilot course has a different refund policy than Principles/PPS courses.
Registration and payment must be received 24 hours prior to the course start date. After this time, registrations will be based on space availability. A full refund, less a $75 administrative fee will be given for cancellations made in writing 31+ days prior to the seminar date by emailing members@opba.ca. No refunds are given for cancellations received within 24 hours of the course start date. There are no refunds for no-shows. If the course is cancelled for any reason, OPBA's liability is limited to the registration fee only. Attendee substitutions within the same agency may be completed with email notification to OPBA sent more than 24 hours prior to the course start time.
Last day to register: May 6, 2026
| 5/13/2026 - 5/14/2026 |    |