National Association of State Procurement Officials (NASPO)

NASPO promotes best practices, provides education and professional development, and provides and conducts research for effective purchasing.  ² NASPO reportedly encourages states to consider race and gender-based scoring rubrics in their contracting. ³

Background

The National Association of State Procurement Officials was established in January 1947 in Chicago, Illinois.  ¹ The group encourages collaborative purchasing and shared services among states to leverage buying power and achieve cost savings. ⁴

Advocacy and Partnerships

The National Association of State Procurement Officials engages in policy advocacy and calls for procurement policies and practices that promote transparency, accountability, and efficiency in public spending. ⁴ NASPO reportedly encourages states to factor race and gender-based scoring rubrics into contracting decisions. ³

Thomas Murray, who works in strategy and economic policy at the State Leadership Initiative, wrote in the Claremont Institute publication The American Mind that, “Procurement officers’ copy and paste NASPO templates” for their own state policies. ³ NASPO asserts on its website, “We honor states’ sovereignty by recognizing their uniqueness, authority, and autonomy.” ⁵

In April 2025, NASPO formed a partnership with Civic Match by Work for America to set up a new program to help connect laid-off federal workers with state-and-local-government jobs. This came after the reduction in force initiative by the Trump administration’s White House Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Civic Match by Work for America is an organization that connects experienced federal workers and former campaign staffers with jobs in state and local governments across the country. It works with governments across more than 170 cities and 47 states. ⁶

NASPO partnered with the National Association of State Workforce Agencies in February 2024 to combine their expertise and resources for member state education and networking opportunities. ⁷

History

George Cronin, a procurement official for Massachusetts, was elected as the first president of an informal group of state procurement officials on January 29, 1944.  ⁸

The first meeting of the group occurred in 1947 in Chicago, Illinois, where they convened to ensure that state governments would receive a fair share of property distributed under the Surplus War Property Disposal Act of 1944. Cronin urged the formation of a formal organization of state purchasing officials, and the National Association of State Procurement Officials was established.  ⁸

In October 1997, NASPO sent its first delegation to a foreign country, when several procurement officials traveled to Amsterdam to give a presentation to Dutch business officials on “how to do business with the states.” ⁸

In 2013, the group launched NASPO ValuePoint to manage its multi-state cooperative purchasing on a national level. ⁸

In 2014, the group launched Procurement U to be an educational program to deliver training and resources to support the professional development and certification process for state procurement professionals. ⁸

Education and Professional Development

The National Association of Procurement Officials provides professional development through education platforms for members and other state and local government procurement professionals.  ⁹

The group promotes best practices, education, professional development, research, and innovative procurement strategies with programs such as NASPO ValuePoint, Procurement U, NASPO Pulse Blog, the NASPO Pulse podcast, NASPO Academic & Strategic Partnerships, NASPO ValuePoint Contract Leads Conference, NASPO Legal Education, Elevating the Public Procurement Profession, and Your Strategic Partner for Public Procurement Solutions. ¹

Procurement U provides training, publications, and certification exam support.  ⁹ Procurement U also provides all NASPO-developed courses free to the public. ⁹

Research

The National Association of State Procurement Officials produces research reports, white papers, and guides on various procurement topics. ⁴

NASPO formulates ten research and innovation priorities each year based on a survey of member states. ⁹

In 2025, NASPO surveyed 54 top chief procurement officials and identified their top priorities as modernizing procurement through the digitization of solicitations, bids, and contracts as well as using artificial intelligence and analytics to make data-driven decisions. ¹⁰

Reports are available through the Procurement IQ program which covers price trends, market characteristics, and negotiation questions. ⁹

NASPO provides members access to GovWin, a market research tool that provides access to 1.9 million company profiles to help members research bidders by examining track records in contracting with other governmental entities. As part of their NASPO membership, states have access to hundreds of market research reports and services through Procurement IQ. ⁹

Leadership

Lindle Hatton is the CEO of the National Association of State Procurement Officials. ⁹

Deb Damore, director of the Vermont office of purchasing and contracting, is the president of the board of NASPO. ^{11  12}

Sherri Maxwell, the Colorado chief procurement officer, is the president-elect of the board of NASPO.  ^{11  13}

Steve Berg, the South Dakota director of procurement management, is the secretary/treasurer of the board of NASPO. ^{11  14}