Important Changes  OIG Bulletin, November 2020: Changes to MCPPO Designations

Date:	11/23/2020
Organization:	Office of the Inspector General
Referenced Sources:	OIG Academy

Updates to MCPPO Designation Requirements Coming Soon

Dear Past, Present and Future Designees,

Thank you for your continued interest and participation in the Massachusetts Certified Public Purchasing Official (MCPPO) Program. Your designation, or your interest in obtaining a designation, is a testament to your professionalism and commitment to understanding and complying with Massachusetts procurement laws.

Although the MCPPO designation has existed since 1999, there have been relatively few changes to the process until now. We have decided to update the MCPPO designation requirements and the application and renewal processes to make them more relevant and inclusive. We plan to make the following changes in early 2021:

• We will reduce the number of designations from six to two:
  1. an MCPPO designation
  2. an Associate MCPPO designation
• We will eliminate the MCPPO for Supplies and Services, the Associate MCPPO for Supplies and Services, the MCPPO for Design and Construction and the Associate MCPPO for Design and Construction

Current holders of eliminated designations will be able to convert their designations.

• We will require new designees to take all three of our core classes to obtain a designation:
  1. Public Contracting Overview
  2. Supplies and Services Contracting
  3. Design and Construction Contracting 
• We will streamline the educational and work experience requirements for the two designations to make applications simpler and more inclusive. Work experience credit, which had been limited to Massachusetts public sector experience, will now include both private sector experience and public sector experience from outside of Massachusetts. We will also expand our definition of procurement experience and eliminate some educational requirements. Work experience will replace degree requirements.
• We will change the name of the class required to renew an existing designation from Recertification for MCPPO to MCPPO Designation Renewal. Additionally, we hope to convert this class to an online, e-learning platform in 2021, which will combine both self-paced lessons and live webinars.

We expect to make other changes to the MCPPO program in the upcoming year. We will ensure that all current and future designees have ample notice to prepare for these changes. In the meantime, please view the current MCPPO class schedule, and feel free to contact us with any questions.

Sincerely,

The MCPPO Staff and Instructors