The National Association of State Procurement Officials (NASPO), Inc.
[www.naspo.org], is a non-profit association dedicated to strengthening the procurement community through education, research, and communication.  NASPO was established on January 29, 1947, in Chicago, Illinois.

NASPO is an organization through which the member purchasing officials provide leadership in professional public procurement, improve the quality of procurement, exchange information and cooperate to attain greater efficiency, economy, and customer satisfaction.  NASPO also facilitates interstate cooperative procurement activities and programs, most notable among which is the Western States Contracting Alliance (WSCA), composed of the 15 western NASPO purchasing directors.

NASPO membership is made up of the directors of the central purchasing offices in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia and the territories of the United States.

Arizona's participation in NASPO

Arizona is an active member of NASPO, attending most annual meetings and contributing to the organization direction and policy-making of the association. Arizona is represented at NASPO by Jean Clark, State Procurement Administrator. As cooperative procurement is not the primary intent of NASPO as it is with WSCA, there are fewer NASPO Contracts to participate under, thus SPO's participation under them is limited. [http://www.naspo.org/content.cfm/id/current_contracts]

As of the Summer of 2010 the NASPO Members and WSCA Directors authorized Arizona to lead the forthcoming NASPO/WSCA Software Value-Added Reseller (VAR) cooperative procurement. SPO is honored by the Director's confidence and look forward to the procurement.

While Arizona supports cooperative procurement and actively participates in NASPO and WSCA, SPO's participation under such contracts has been conservative and limited to those contracts determined to be necessary and in the State's best interest. SPO does not participate under all NASPO and WSCA Contracts. When SPO does determine it to be in the State's best interest to participate, SPO limits our participation to just those contracts that meet the State's needs and the needs of our customers. SPO pursues best value in our contracts, whether it be via cooperative procurement opportunities like WSCA or competed directly in Arizona.

http://SPO.AZ.GOV