In order to alleviate the workload burden on Buyers and to provide departments with more dedicated and personalized procurement support, it is recommended that the City add one additional central Buyer position to the Procurement division. This will allow the City to reduce each assigned Buyer’s departmental workload from 11 departments to eight departments, and reduce the annual procurement workload from an average of 660 procurements per Buyer to 495 procurements per Buyer.

Adding another Buyer to the centralized Procurement staff will also create additional staff capacity to attend professional development training. As a best practice, NIGP recommends that professional procurement staff receive at least 20 hours of dedicated professional development training each year. According to the latest estimates provided by Charlottesville Procurement staff, each Buyer devotes approximately 24-40 hours each year to non-procurement related activities each year, including training provided to other City staff as well as professional development training. The additional Buyer will provide Procurement staff with an opportunity to achieve 20 hours of professional development training each year, as well as create additional capacity to engage in training efforts for other City staff, as discussed in the next recommendation.

Finance Department

Procurement/Purchasing