Osceola County Procurement repeats award win
Osceola County’s Procurement Department was one of 19 agencies honored by The Excellence in Public Procurement Awards Program sponsored by the Florida Association of Public Procurement Officials, Inc. (FAPPO).
The Award of Excellence in Public Procurement recognizes organizational excellence in procurement. Agencies must meet or exceed benchmarks and best practices in the procurement profession and achieve a high score on a rating of standardized criteria. “This award is a
“This award is a testament to the work our Procurement Department is doing every day to make sure that local companies connect to opportunities that support the County’s operations,” said Osceola Commission Chairman Brandon Arrington. “Receiving this recognition from an outside organization validates the professionalism of our staff and the classleading manner in which they successfully engage with the business community. I’m grateful for the Procurement team’s achievements, diligence and expertise.”
The program is designed to measure innovation, professionalism, e-procurement, productivity, and leadership attributes of the procurement function.
The County was evaluated in these categories: mission and organization, authority level, education and professional development, method of source selection, areas of direct responsibility, auditing and continual process improvement program, automation and electronic commerce.
Each year the FAPPO Entity Awards Committee reviews the program and revises the application’s criteria to ensure that it reflects current benchmarks and best practices; and encourages members to keep improving within their organizations/agencies.
The department will receive the award during the FAPPO’s conference later this month. The organization promotes the achievement of excellence in public procurement and professional development through education, certification and networking of its membership.
National leadership society inducts local members
Omicron Delta Kappa, the National Leadership Honor Society, welcomed 1,971 new initiates from 78 universities during April 2022, including Kissimmee’s Bryanna Forbes (Jacksonville University), Sendy Sejourne (Rollins College), Damaris Rojas Lopez (University of Miami) and Laura Pulido (University of South Florida).
Keep Safe Florida launches
Enterprise Community Partners joined officials from Miami, Orlando and Tampa, resilience experts and affordable housing providers to announce the launch of Keep Safe Florida. Originally launched as a pilot in Miami in 2021, the Keep Safe program offers free tools and resources to help affordable housing owners and operators in the three regions assess and address threats from climate change and natural disasters.
“Floridians know all too well the destruction caused by major hurricanes and other climate events, and lowerincome neighborhoods and communities of color are on the front lines of the climate crisis. Housing providers must take steps to protect lives and homes before the next storm hits,” said Jacqueline Waggoner, president of Enterprise’s Solutions Division. “We are grateful for the collaboration among many public and private partners that made it possible to expand the Keep Safe program to the Orlando and Tampa regions, and we urge affordable housing operators to take full advantage of these free resources.”
With expansion, the program is now available to owners and operators of multifamily housing in Osceola and other Central Florida counties.
Participants will have access to tools that can be used to assess a property’s vulnerability to various climate-related events, such as hurricanes and flooding, as well as specialized training and comprehensive assistance in developing action plans to implement the recommendations from their vulnerability assessments. Find more information at www. enterprisecommunity.org/ impact-areas/resilience/ keep-safe-florida
