Guam § 5141 - Training and Certification of Purchasing Personnel and Vendors.

§ 5141. Training and Certification of Purchasing Personnel and Vendors.

(a) Guam Community College Procurement Program. The Guam Community College (GCC, College)

shall establish and administer an integrated program of academic, research, practical training, and

continuing education, and provide the same on a full cost recovery basis, for government of Guam

procurement personnel and other interested private or public participants, to be known as the “GCC

Procurement Program.” The College may adopt rules to provide appropriate criteria for the training,

continuing education and certification authorized by this Section, and to administer this Section, including

rules related to monitoring a certified purchaser's compliance with the continuing education requirements

of this Section. The College may, under the GCC Procurement Program, establish a library, publish papers

and journals, hold conferences and seminars, and do such other things as it deems reasonable to improve

the government of Guam’s acquisition and asset management strategies, practices and effectiveness. The

primary focus of the activities of the GCC Procurement Program shall be on the study and instruction of

the procurement laws and regulations of Guam, but may include the examination and comparison of other

procurement regimes for the purpose of better understanding of procurement philosophy and best practices

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and the improvement of Guam’s procurement regime. The College shall establish such equivalent training,

education, experience and certification, and such prerequisites, tests, attendance and standards as it

determines are necessary to qualify for any certification required by this Section, and is solely responsible

for bestowing such certification in such form as it determines. It is not the intent, however, to require that

tests be standardized or to prevent variation in subject matter tested, method of testing or the use of other

pedagogical techniques. The College, in consultation with the Guam Procurement Advisory Council, shall

review all qualification criteria annually, and may revise any of the same as it deems appropriate to improve

the standards and proficiency of government of Guam procurement personnel. The College shall maintain

records of enrollment and of the training, continuing education, and certification in same or similar manner,

and subject to the same or similar rules as its regularly enrolled student records. The College may provide

training, assistance and coordination with other states and nations of Micronesia on a cost recovery basis

on the subject matter as covered under this Section.

(b) Mandatory Certification and Continuing Education. Notwithstanding any other provision of law or

this Chapter and effective October 1, 2016, all government of Guam personnel tasked with the responsibility

of purchasing or otherwise procuring goods, or services, or construction, including those employed by

agencies with authority to conduct their own procurement, as well as any person within the Office of Public

Accountability responsible for administering procurement appeals or auditing of the purchasing activities

of the government of Guam, must receive the training and continuing education to the extent required under

this Section and offered by the College in consultation with the Guam Procurement Advisory Council. A

government of Guam employee who is required to receive the training may not participate in purchases by

the employing agency unless the employee has received the required training or received equivalent training

from a national association recognized by the College and the Guam Procurement Advisory Council, which

shall be the judge of equivalency. The equivalent training may count toward the continuing education

requirements of this Section, as determined by the College, in consultation with the Guam Procurement

Advisory Council.

(c) Consultation with the Guam Procurement Advisory Council. The Guam Procurement Advisory

Council shall, on an annual basis and to the extent of its resources, advise and consult with the Guam

Community College regarding the professional education programs contained in this Section, as they relate

to the educational needs of government of Guam employees and vendors, and provide such other counsel

and assistance as the College may request.

(d) Promulgation of Fees and Rules. The College, pursuant to the Administrative Adjudication Law,

shall promulgate a fee schedule for students, departments and agencies, and vendors in order to recover the

College's costs under this Section. The operations budget of each government of Guam department or

agency for staff development may be used to pay for fees provided herein. The College shall also

promulgate any rules authorized by this Section, or which it may deem necessary or appropriate to give

effect to this Section, pursuant to the Administrative Adjudication Law.

(e) Cooperation with Other Entities. The College may provide training and continuing education under

this Section using its own personnel and facilities, or through contracts with other public or private entities

or personnel, including the federal government Procurement Technical Assistance Program, the Hawaii

Procurement Institute, and other state and international institutions.

(f) Basic Training Requirements. The College shall provide at least four (4) modules of procurement

basic training, each with at least eighteen (18) hours of study and instruction, or more, as the College may

determine as necessary, and shall award a Certificate of Enrichment of training to those qualifying, as

required by this Section, for each module of the following subject matter areas:

Module 1. Fundamentals and Principles of Procurement (Basic).

Module 2. The Procurement Solicitation Process (Advanced).

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Module 3. The Procurement Review and Remedies (Administrative).

Module 4. The Management and Administration of Procurement (Administrative).

(g) Continuing Education for Procurement Training. In consultation with the Guam Procurement

Advisory Council, the College shall require a reasonable number of hours of continuing education to

maintain a certification level for each Certificate of Enrichment required in this Section. The College may

allow attendance at an equivalent certification training recognized by the College, in consultation with the

Guam Procurement Advisory Council, to count toward the required number of hours. Maintenance of the

certification level may be by yearly renewal or another reasonable renewal period comparable to nationally

recognized certification requirements.

(h) Requirement of Certificate of Enrichment (Basic). The College’s prerequisites for awarding a

Certificate of Enrichment (Basic) must include the completion of the first module of procurement basic

training and passage of a written examination prescribed by the College. From October 1, 2016, no person

shall serve in the capacity of a level-one purchaser, and no person shall sign for any procurement requisition,

without the Certificate of Enrichment (Basic) provided by the College.

(i) Requirement of Certificate of Enrichment (Advanced). The College’s prerequisites for awarding a

Certificate of Enrichment (Advanced) must include the completion of the first and second modules of

procurement basic training and passage of a written examination prescribed by the College. From October

1, 2016, no person shall serve in the capacity of a level-two purchaser, without a Certificate of Enrichment

(Advanced) provided by the College, and a minimum number of years of purchasing experience as

prescribed by the Department of Administration. Recognizing that the College has been providing

procurement basic training since 2012 that covers the subject matter in the first and second basic training

modules required in this Section, the College may allow attendance at any such training given as credit

toward any certification required without examination until such time as the College has implemented

testing for such training.

(j) Requirement of Certificate of Enrichment (Administrative). The College’s prerequisites for

awarding a Certificate of Enrichment (Administrative) must include the completion of the first, second,

third, and fourth modules of procurement basic training and passage of a written examination prescribed

by the College. From October 1, 2016, no person shall serve in the capacity of a Chief Procurement Officer

or Procurement Administrator, or as a classified employee in the position of supply management

administrator, procurement officer, or otherwise as the responsible head of procurement, or a level-three

purchaser, of any government of Guam entity, including any governmental body, public corporation, semi-

autonomous or autonomous agency, within or under the purview of the Executive Branch, without a

Certificate of Enrichment (Advanced) provided by the College and a minimum number of years of

purchasing experience as prescribed by the Department of Administration.

(k) Requirement of Industry Certification. The College may provide an Industry Certification which

may require completing the required number of college credit courses to include the four (4) subject matter

areas covered under this Section and passage of a written examination as developed, prescribed, and

administered by the College, in consultation with the Guam Procurement Advisory Council.

(l) Requirement of Certificate of Procurement Management Program. The College's requisites for

providing a GCC Certificate of Procurement Management may include completing seventeen (17) college

credit(s), or more, as the College may determine necessary, to include the four (4) subject matter areas

covered under this Section and meeting all the general requirements for a certificate program and a

Certificate of Completion to be awarded by the College.

(m) Requirement of an Associate’s Degree. The College's requisites for providing an Associate’s

Degree in Procurement Administration may include completing the required college credits as the College

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may determine necessary, to include the four (4) subject matter areas covered under this Section and

meeting all the general requirements for an Associate’s Degree to be awarded by the College.

(n) Procurement Training Compliance Report.

(1) Timeline for Submission. No later than thirty (30) days after the end of each fiscal year, every

director, administrator, president or head of a government of Guam agency, including line agencies,

autonomous and semi-autonomous agencies, public corporations, the Mayors’ Council of Guam, the

Courts of the Judiciary of Guam, and I Liheslaturan Guåhan shall electronically submit to the Public

Auditor of Guam, in an electronic portable document format, a “Procurement Training Compliance

Report.”

(2) Content Guidelines. Said report shall at minimum list the employees by name, job title, each

procurement training module completed, and the date of completion.