An Award-Winning Procurement Team

Sourcewell members and vendors can take pride in knowing Sourcewell contracts are products of an award-winning procurement process. 

For the fourth year in a row, Sourcewell has been awarded the Achievement of Excellence in Procurement® (AEP) Award by the National Procurement Institute, Inc. Sourcewell was the only organization in the state of Minnesota to achieve this honor in 2019.

Public and nonprofit agencies earn the AEP Award by demonstrating a commitment to procurement excellence. This annual program recognizes procurement organizations that embrace innovation, professionalism, productivity, leadership, and e-Procurement.

Sourcewell Lead Procurement Analyst Kim Austin explains, the AEP Award validates that organizations have held themselves to the highest standards in public procurement. The overall criteria throughout the AEP application measures qualities important to a successful procurement department.

To earn the award each year, the AEP program encourages not only the development of excellence, but also the push for continued improvement.

“Our procurement team works each day to improve our processes,” Austin says. “Receiving the AEP Award is confirmation that our efforts are going in the right direction, and we are excited to see what we can do next.”

This year, 202 organizations were recognized for excellence in procurement, including:

• Forty-two counties
• Sixty-seven cities
• Twenty-five higher education agencies
• Twenty-three school districts
• Four state agencies
• Two miscellaneous organizations

This is the 24^th year NPI has recognized organizations with the annual AEP Award. A complete list of recipients can be found at npiconnection.org/aep.