oligarchy [ol-i-gahr-kee] 1. a form of government in which all power is vested in a few persons or in a dominant class or clique; government by a few.
NIGP – Periscope Leadership?
I would imagine that it would be easy to assume that the origins of the NIGP -Persiscope story originated with the seemingly innocuous musings of my December 11th, 2014 post Up Periscope? Examining Periscope’s acquisition of BidSync with a “Survivor’s” eye.
While it has been suggested by many that this served as the spark in terms of bringing the now increasingly apparent NIGP – Periscope conflict of interest relationship to light, I think where the story really begins is from within the NIGP itself.
As the information and documentation continues to flow in, I wonder how many people within the NIGP membership are themselves surprised by this story?
I can’t help but believe that the majority were either unaware of what was going on and are now shocked/disappointed by the revelations of the past two weeks or, had some indirect inkling that something was amiss but were never in the position to confront it.
In an unusually acerbic comment relating to the April 6th Deep Throat post (she has always been considered the nice one in comparisons with me), while Kelly Barner expressed mock surprise that such indiscretions would occur in the public sector, she also challenged readers to “fight the urge to feel apathetic in response.”
My takeaway from this last statement is that many in the public sector feel powerless to change the status quo regarding the perception – sometimes justified, but usually not – that government procurement is a rigged game.
“Still a fledgling in the Procurement world at just over one month in- this has taught me a lot about the Public Sector!
Although as I have not lived under a rock for all 24 years of my life, I haven’t exactly been unaware of the not-so-positive connotations that public spend and public dealings draw.” – Generation Next procurement industry professional
NIGP Chief Executive Rick Grimm’s semantics regarding “competitive RFIs” notwithstanding, I believe that generally speaking procurement professionals in both the public and private sectors are dedicated, hard working individuals who, while feeling at times powerless, really do care.
This brings us back to the point of today’s post.
Even though it may be both convenient and reasonable to assume that my varied and growing sources of information regarding #CodeGate are individuals commenting from outside of the NIGP, I am starting to get a sense that this is not entirely the case.
I have no doubt, that some of my sources do come from outside of the NIGP – Periscope orbit. However, and based partly on the nature of the information I am now starting to receive, it would not be out of the realm of possibility that some of the inflow originates from within the NIGP itself.
In this regard, and in the context of her comment relating to apathy in the public sector procurement world, Kelly should feel encouraged that the resignation in what was, is now turning into determination to work towards what could and should be. Specifically, creating an image that projects professionalism and integrity in both practice and outcome.
As this story continues to unfold it will be most interesting to see how those within the NIGP react, and what it will mean for the current NIGP leadership.
Just started following the NIGP #CodeGate story? Use the following link to access the Post Archive; https://procureinsights.wordpress.com/nigp-codegate/
You can follow my coverage of this story on Twitter using the Hashtags #missbid and #CodeGate
On The Go? You can also listen to the audio version of this post as well as others through @Umano https://umano.me/jhansen
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Procurement Insights 
Kelly Barner
April 9, 2015
Hi Jon,
I would love nothing more than to see more determination (your word) from the procurement community at large – but I can’t help but wonder how many of our practitioner colleagues (especially those NOT in the public sector) have the time to look up from their hectic schedules to see what is happening in this case.
Maybe my skepticism comes from living in a state (Massachusetts) where we can’t even mount an Olympic bid without nepotism and disgraceful examples of local palm greasing. Our trains didn’t run this winter because it snowed and there was no plan and a significant portion of the MBTA workforce called out sick. Need I even mention the ‘Big Dig’? It came in over budget and behind schedule – before the panels started falling from the ceiling of the tunnels and killing people.
In too many cases, I think we shrug when we hear negative stories about public procurement. Even if they turn out not to be true in the end, the mere implication that something is amiss confirms everything we think we know. There are far too few examples of successful public procurement, and most of these are large scale high-publicity one time projects.
I do hope you are right in this case, and your faith in the community as a whole as a whole is not misplaced. Perhaps a few private sector procurement professionals will hear this as a calling to join the public sector as an act of (greatly needed) civic duty.
piblogger
April 9, 2015
What is interesting Kelly is that as valid as your points are, they also confirm the fact that the real people who have to get involved are those from the general public. This is one of the reasons why I wrote the post Why the everyday taxpaying citizen should care about the Missouri NIGP Code Bid Protest; https://procureinsights.wordpress.com/2015/04/04/why-the-everyday-taxpaying-citizen-should-care-about-the-missouri-nigp-code-bid-protest-by-jon-hansen/
Referencing the famous last word of the Lorax “UNLESS” “someone like you (being the public) cares a a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”