Procuri Applauds State of Minnesota for Receiving Prestigious Cronin Award for Procurement Excellence

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--After only one year of utilizing Procuri TotalSpend, the State of Minnesota’s Department of Administration Materials Management Division received the prestigious NASPO Cronin Award for Procurement Excellence. The annual program, created by The National Association of State Procurement Officials, seeks to recognize outstanding public procurement initiatives and promote the adoption of these ideas and practices throughout the states. This year’s award specifically focuses on the integration and essential nature of data within the procurement operation.

With thousands of purchases of goods and services totaling over one billion dollars annually, the State had no consolidated information on what had been purchased, from which suppliers, in what quantities and at what prices. The State’s previously disparate data collection and reporting systems had mismatched standards for organizing information and did not allow for advanced analysis.

After an extensive RFP and solution evaluation process, the State selected Procuri TotalSpend to gain better spend visibility, consolidate purchases and suppliers and reduce costs.

“The web-based system integrates, classifies and enhances spending information based on internationally recognized standards. It enriches state data with third party vendor-related details such as parent/subsidiary relationships between businesses, as well as diversity program information. It provides a portal to this consolidated information and the tools to analyze it. Spend Analysis has been implemented for Minnesota state agency purchases and will be rolled out to the 44-state Minnesota Multi-State Contracting Alliance for Pharmacy (MMCAP),” said Kent Allin, division director, State of Minnesota.

Deployment of the system is one element in Minnesota’s “Drive to Excellence” strategic sourcing initiative. This multifaceted program demonstrated benefits through well-defined interagency roles and relationships, extensive collaboration across agencies, agreement on commodity standards, intensified negotiations, enterprise-wide contracts, and adoption of “best practices” in statutes, policy and practice. The combination of these strategies is expected to save state agencies and local units of government in excess of $140 million over a five-year period.

“Minnesota’s Spend Analysis system has opened a door to an unprecedented quantity and quality of relevant sourcing data. Our challenge is to utilize it creatively and effectively to drive even further efficiencies and savings in what we buy. Minnesota’s citizens deserve the best data-driven sourcing decisions. With this solution, that is what we are able to provide,” added Allin.

The NASPO recapped the State’s efforts in its award presentation on September 25^th during its 2007 Annual Conference held September 24-27, in Savannah, Georgia:

We’ve all struggled with limitations on statewide procurement data -- finally a state has comprehensively tackled and solved the problem. How does one achieve data-based decisions in procurement with imperfect knowledge of expenditures and reporting systems that often are accounting-driven? While the specific technology solution may vary between states, this project provides a unique framework for developing meaningful expenditure information by mining data from disparate, existing systems. The use of MMCAP to demonstrate and migrate the potential nationally also was innovative. Minnesota’s system obviously will improve service by providing access to useful reporting information based on actual data, not just painstakingly developed estimates. It took little imagination to conclude that the Minnesota system has huge potential to generate substantial cost savings by making the state more able to target candidate expenditures strategically.

“Minnesota’s Spend Analysis system is innovative and fills a significant void that exists in many states. Effective procurement reform initiatives are dependent on a complete, accurate picture of a state’s procurement expenditures. Rarely is there a consolidated system capable of providing information that is meaningful to strategic sourcing and other procurement improvement initiatives. Minnesota should be applauded,” commented Patricia A. Meagher, Chair, American Bar Association’s Section of Public Contract Law.

“Spend analysis systems have been implemented successfully in the private sector, but we believe Minnesota is the first state to do so with respect to its public sector purchasing. This state-wide and multi-agency public sector implementation proved to be complex and time-consuming. Judged on the scale or magnitude of effort, this was an enormous undertaking and required the diligence and perseverance of both state and contractor personnel,” said Rod True, Senior Vice President of Spend Intelligence, Procuri.

About Procuri Empower 2007

Procuri Empower 2007, the industry’s leading conference for global supply management executives and thought leaders, will be held October 8-10, 2007 at the InterContinental Hotel Buckhead in Atlanta. High profile keynotes and world-class supply management practitioners will address globalization’s effect on supply management and how companies can optimize supply costs, performance, and risks in the global economy. The conference will provide attendees with a unique educational platform to learn about new solution developments discuss common issues and build mutually profitable relationships. Speakers include executives from salesforce.com, International Association for Contract and Commercial Management (IACCM), National City Corp, Federal Signal, Toyota Financial Services and Purchasing Magazine. For more information or to attend Procuri Empower 2007, please visit www.procuri.com/empower or contact empower@procuri.com.

About Procuri Inc.

Procuri leads the On Demand Supply Management industry with more than 300 customers of all sizes, industries, geographies and spend categories. Customers include Eastman Kodak, ITT Industries, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Newell Rubbermaid, Sun Microsystems and Toyota Motor Sales. Procuri’s On Demand solutions for spend analysis, supplier management, strategic sourcing, contract management and compliance are comprehensive, cost effective and instantly available. For more information, call 1-877-360-1600 or visit www.procuri.com.

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