Designed for individuals who have registered for their CPPB or CPPO exams, the UPPCC Universal Edition of Foundations in Public Procurement draws on the foundational topics from our advanced Platinum Series training certificates and covers the core aspects of public procurement law and practice. Fair Competition features bonus content from all of our jurisdiction-specific editions of Foundations to provide over two days of content, while Art of Design, Institutional Governance, and Open Competition each contain a full-day of training content. In addition to helping prepare you for your UPPCC exams, completion of the Foundations certificate also earns you credits towards the completion of our advanced Platinum Series certificate programs.

Fair Competition

The Fair Competition bundle focuses on the core due diligence duties that apply to project teams as they navigate the government tendering process. This bundle is a double-length one day curriculum with bonus content from all jurisdictions.

Critical Trends (Program Introduction) (1 module)
Focusing on the latest trends impacting the world of public procurement, this discussion covers a global survey of recent high-profile bid protests and public audits.

Commercial Law and Contract A – The Process Contract* (1 module)
Summarizing the Contract A “process contract” legal analysis and remedies, this module provides an overview of: (i) the creation of the Contract A bidding process contract and the duty of fairness; (ii) the key indicators of the Contract A process contract; and (iii) the remedies of bidder lost profits and forfeited bid security.

Disclosing Evaluation Criteria (1 module)
Covering the key transparency duties that require public institutions to disclose their evaluation criteria and process rules, this module focuses on the importance of establishing and following clear and defensible evaluation and award procedures.

Tender Compliance (5 modules)
Summarizing the case law developments that govern the duty to reject non-compliant tenders, these modules cover: (i) the leading precedents dealing with strict vs. substantial compliance; and (ii) the principles that inform formal, contractual, and procedural compliance. These modules also summarizes the leading cases dealing with: (i) technical compliance; (ii) rectifications, clarifications, and bid repair; and (iii) enforcing compliance and the difference between tender compliance criteria and contract performance requirements.

Evaluation Challenges (3 modules)
Covering the governing principles for price evaluations and proposal scoring, these modules survey a selection of foundational cases from the United Kingdom, European Union and Commonwealth jurisdictions across the Caribbean, Africa and the Pacific that highlight the importance of transparent evaluation and award procedures.

The Duty to Award (1 module)
Surveying the leading cases dealing with the duty to award to the best bid, this modules covers the recurring risk areas relating to: (i) reserved rights and privileges, low-bid bypass, and unfair process claims; and (ii) over-budget bids, cancellations, retendering, and bid-shopping claims.

*This module focuses on foundational Canadian case law development, which are expanded on in GP204 – Dealing with Bidding Risks with related global rulings from the UK and Commonwealth jurisdictions across the Caribbean, Africa, and the Pacific.

The Art of Design

The Art of Design identifies the key design considerations for drafting your solicitation documents.

PD101- Applying the 95/5 Rule of Project Design
Covering the five critical design factors that account for 95% of project successes or failures, this module focuses on guiding your project team through the project design planning checklist and explains how the proper integration of scoping statements and specifications, material disclosures, evaluation requirements, pricing structures, and legal agreements within your solicitation document serves as the blueprint for project success.

PD102 – Scoping the Project
With reference to leading case studies, this module explains the importance of managing your project teams to develop clear, thorough, and concise scoping statements and specifications.

PD103 – Aligning Payment Structures
This module surveys the risks of failing to properly align payment structures to performance requirements and identifies the critical differences between using progress payments and milestone payments in your procurement contracts.

PD104 – Implementing Integrated Team Disciplines
Analyzing the key advantages of implementing integrated specification design and contract delivery methods in your procurements, this module explains how leveraging integrated project delivery principles can help create proper incentives for clear specifications and timely, on-budget performance for everything from low-value goods and services to high-cost and complex infrastructure and technology projects.

Institutional Governance

Institutional Governance covers the common global procurement standards that shape local public procurement practices at the jurisdictional and institutional level.

Building Procurement Capacity
Covering the crucial role played by procurement in government operations, this module highlights the importance of building organizational procurement capacity, integrating process improvements, and implementing training strategies to help public institutions meet their strategic objectives.

Managing Oversight and Interference
Assessing high-profile case studies dealing with politicized procurement, this module explores the importance of establishing appropriate oversight mechanisms, while avoiding improper interference in the public procurement cycle.

Guarding Against Conflicts and Collusion
Surveying the conflict of interest and collusion risks impacting public procurement, this module covers unfair advantage, bias, collusion, and bid-rigging in the government procurement process.

Applying Global Standards to Local Purchasing
Synthesizing leading global sources, this module explains how local procurement rules are shaped by a core body of international treaties, model laws, and governance benchmarks that serve as standards for measuring your organization’s procurement operations.

Open Competition

Open Competition explains why public institutions need to implement open tendering procedures, avoid anti-competitive practices, consolidate spending, and mitigate project and bidding risks.

Avoiding Anti-Competitive Practices
Covering the core standards driving open tendering in public procurement, this module explains why public institutions need to use open and transparent tendering practices, while avoiding improper sole-sourcing and unnecessarily restrictive requirements.

Centralizing Spending and Leveraging Open Frameworks
Surveying the benefits of centralized spending, this module explains how to consolidate cost savings and accelerate awards through the implementation of open framework agreements. This module also explains how to enable transparent second-stage processes through rotational assignments, invitational quotes, and electronic auctions.

Managing Project Risks
Analyzing the five inherent risk factors that lead to project failure, this module explains how optimism bias leads to flawed planning and failed project execution. This module also explains why public institutions need to implement long-term strategies to ensure competition in their supply chains.

Dealing with Bidding Risks
Synthesizing the leading global precedents that govern the bidding process, this module explains how public institutions are mitigating the risk of lost profit claims by phasing out Contract A formats and deploying negotiated RFPs. This module also covers the strict administrative law standards that regulate the government tendering process.

Selected Readings Supplementary Quiz
Each edition of Foundations of Public Procurement includes a jurisdiction-specific supplementary reading list from The Art of Tendering: A Global Due Diligence Guide, as well as a culminating quiz based on the content of those specific supplementary readings.