NIGP-CPP cheat sheet

Governance hierarchy: statute and regulation override policy, policy overrides procedure, and procedure overrides practice; a conflict is resolved at the highest level.

Segregation of duties requires that the person who requisitions, the person who approves, and the person who pays are never the same individual.

A procurement manual is an internal control document; it does not create authority that the enabling statute does not grant.

Emergency and sole-source authority is typically delegated at a higher level and must be documented with a written justification and a post-award report.

Delegation of authority must be in writing, time-limited, and specific as to dollar threshold and commodity; verbal delegation is unenforceable.

A cooperative (piggyback) contract is valid only when the lead agency's solicitation permitted it and the entity's own rules allow participation.

Key performance indicators for procurement governance commonly include cycle time, competitive ratio, protest rate, and percent of spend under contract.

A conflict-of-interest disclosure is required at the earliest point of awareness; recusal, not merely disclosure, is the usual remedy.

Ethics rules generally bar accepting gratuities from actual or prospective contractors regardless of value or intent.

Method selection rule: use sealed bidding when requirements are definite and price is the deciding factor; use negotiation (RFP) when tradeoffs among price and non-price factors are expected.

IFB responses are evaluated without discussion or negotiation; RFP responses may permit clarifications and best-and-final offers.

Adequate competition generally requires at least three responsive, responsible offers; two or fewer triggers a documented justification.

Responsiveness concerns the offer itself (conformance to stated terms); responsibility concerns the offeror (capacity, integrity, resources).

A nonresponsive bid cannot be cured after opening if the change would give the bidder an advantage not available to others.

The solicitation must state evaluation factors and their relative importance; undisclosed criteria cannot be used in award.

Addenda must be issued to all known holders of the solicitation in sufficient time before the due date; receipt must be acknowledged.

Reverse auctions are suited to well-defined, commodity-like purchases where price is the dominant differentiator.

Protest periods typically run from the date of award notice or the date the basis of protest was or should have been known.

Order of precedence clauses resolve conflicting documents; a common default order is statute, special conditions, general conditions, specifications, then the offeror's proposal.

A firm-fixed-price contract places cost risk on the contractor; cost-reimbursement contracts place it on the buyer and require cost monitoring.

The changes clause lets the buyer direct changes within the general scope; a change outside scope requires a new procurement.

Constructive change: an informal direction or unreasonable inspection that increases cost can be treated as a compensable change even without a written order.

Contract modification types: bilateral (signed by both parties) versus unilateral (buyer's written direction under a changes clause).

Acceptance transfers risk and starts warranty and payment clocks; acceptance should be documented in writing.

Liquidated damages must be a reasonable forecast of anticipated harm, not a penalty, and must be stated in the contract.

Termination for convenience requires notice and equitable adjustment for work performed and reasonable settlement; termination for cause requires a cure opportunity unless the breach is incurable.

Retainage is a percentage withheld from progress payments until acceptance or a specified milestone is met.

Supplier segmentation rule: strategic (high spend, high risk) gets partnership treatment; non-critical (low spend, low risk) gets automated transactional handling.

A vendor performance scorecard should weight quality, delivery, cost, and compliance, and be shared with the supplier before it affects future awards.

Past-performance evaluation must be documented, factual, and communicated to the supplier with an opportunity to respond.

Supplier onboarding should verify legal status, insurance, licenses, debarment status, and banking details before the first purchase order.

Single-source means only one known supplier is capable; sole-source means only one supplier exists for the requirement.

A cure notice gives the contractor a stated period to correct a performance failure before termination for default.

Debarment and suspension checks should be repeated at award and at contract renewal, not only at solicitation.

Key supplier risk indicators include financial distress, ownership changes, concentration of spend, and geographic or single-facility dependency.

Encumbrance reserves budget authority when a commitment is made; it is relieved when the invoice is paid or the purchase order is closed.

Appropriation types: annual (expires at fiscal year end), multi-year, and no-year (available until expended).

The obligation occurs when a binding commitment is made, not when goods are received or the invoice is paid.

Bona fide needs rule: an appropriation may be obligated only for a need arising in the period of availability, not for future-year requirements.

Budget lifecycle: appropriation, allotment, commitment, obligation, expenditure, and outlay.

Cost-benefit and life-cycle costing should include acquisition, operation, maintenance, and disposal costs, not just purchase price.

The anti-deficiency principle prohibits obligating funds in advance of an appropriation or in excess of the amount available.

Period-of-performance rules govern service contracts that cross fiscal years; the severability test asks whether the service is a bona fide need of the year the contract is charged.

A purchase card program requires single-transaction and monthly limits, restricted merchant category codes, and reconciliation before statement payment.

Ethical decision test: is the action legal, consistent with policy, transparent if published, and free of personal gain? If any answer is no, do not proceed.

The appearance of a conflict of interest is treated as seriously as an actual conflict in public procurement.

Gifts, gratuities, and hospitality from current or prospective contractors should be declined or disclosed per policy; many jurisdictions set a zero-dollar threshold.

Confidentiality applies to proprietary cost or pricing data and to sealed offers before opening; premature disclosure can void the procurement.

Leadership competencies for procurement professionals include strategic thinking, stakeholder influence, change management, and coaching.

A written professional development plan should tie training to role competencies and be reviewed at least annually.

Mentoring and succession planning reduce single-point-of-failure risk in procurement offices; cross-training on high-risk commodities is a common control.

Whistleblower protections generally prohibit retaliation against an employee who reports suspected fraud, waste, or abuse in good faith.

Documentation is the professional standard: if a decision is not written in the file with its rationale, it is difficult to defend in an audit or protest.