Group 2401

The art of motivating and influencing groups of people towards a common goal. Leadership is also maintaining a work culture conducive to career development and talent cultivation.

Leading Others

Creating new and improved ways to solve problems and streamline efficiencies. Working towards solutions to problems on the horizon.

Innovative

Demonstrating quality and value of procurements and initiatives that lead to increased customer satisfaction and customer engagement.

Results

Incorporating ethical behaviors into everyday operations. Doing the right thing when no one is looking, even when there are negative consequences associated with it.

Integrity

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Contact Us

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Daniel Kruger

Please note:
The Emerging Leaders Awards Committee reviews the carefully curated applications and determines the winners by committee vote. Will Camp is the current Committee Chair, and Dan Kruger is the NASPO staff contact.

1-5 years of experience in public procurement.

Not in a leadership/management position.

An individual who demonstrates the competencies below and could possibly be a leader/manager in the future. A champion of the procurement profession.

Rising Star Criteria

red: Red

2-5 years of experience as a leader/manager

An individual who demonstrates the competencies below and is leading by example. This individual brings the best out of their team to meet goals and objectives, while improving efficiency and process.

Emerging Leader Criteria

orange: Orange

The Award's History

The George Cronin Award for Procurement Excellence is recognized as a premier achievement for innovative public procurement and pays homage to a founder and the first president of NASPO for his devotion to improving governmental purchasing.

This award provides appreciation to the procurement personnel who have undertaken and accomplished projects that result in distinct benefits to their state in economy, efficiency, delivery of services or some combination of each.

In this way, Cronin awardees and finalists create opportunities for improving the procurement profession nationwide, which can multiply those initial benefits many times over.

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Cronin Club

The Cronin Club evolved from an idea presented by John Dyer of Maine to form an organization of NASPO past presidents and name it after Mr. George Cronin. The group met for the first Cronin Club Luncheon at the NASPO Annual Conference in 1970. In 1974, the Cronin Club opened the luncheon to any NASPO member who wished to participate instead of restricting attendance to the past presidents, and it became an established feature of the NASPO Annual Conference.
The Cronin Club decided to sponsor a &#8220;cost reduction&#8221; incentive program in 1977. This created interest among the states and encouraged them to share cost-saving ideas with other states. The program has evolved over the past 30 years and adapted to the changing procurement landscape. The George Cronin Award for Procurement Excellence is a premier achievement for innovative public procurement. It pays homage to a founder and the first president of NASPO for his devotion to improving governmental purchasing.

Need Inspiration? Check out Past Winners

Please note that submissions are limited to four pages, although optional supporting material can also be submitted as a separate document when needed to showcase images, examples, or documentation that is too large to fit within the four-page submission itself.

Create a Winning Submission

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chadwick-stephens

Chadwick-Stephens-MPA

Chadwick Stephens, MPA

Please note:
Nominations for the George Cronin Awards for Procurement Excellence are intended for state central procurement offices, and must be submitted by, or with approval from, the NASPO voting member (CPO) within your state.

Your submission will benefit greatly with the addition of a short executive summary/introduction that describes the purpose and scope of the project and gives a brief overview of the implementation process.

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Write an Executive Summary

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1944-Present

The Committee scores the Innovation and Transferability categories only to narrow down submissions to the top 10.

To choose the next tier of applicants, the Committee develops several clarification questions for the submissions to be answered by the award applicant.

At this stage, the Committee scores the Service Improvement and Cost Reduction categories. Scorecards are calculated and the five finalists are determined.

Methodology

Cronin Scoring Methodology 

The Cronin Awards Committee will review the resubmission justifications to determine whether the submission will be included with those to be scored. If the committee determines the reasons for resubmission are substantial, then the entire document will be reviewed along with the other submissions. If the committee determines, based on the justification, that a resubmittal does not merit inclusion, the resubmittal will not be scored.
All states involved with a resubmittal will be notified of the committee’s decision to include or exclude their submission from scoring following the committee’s decision.

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Unusual or unique approach, scale, or magnitude of effort; conceptual originality. This category should answer the question, “What makes this project stand out as a notable contribution to the procurement function?” It is intended to capture the nature and impact of changes in your state operations, but it also rewards path-breaking ideas or efforts that may not have been considered or attempted elsewhere.
Because substantial originality is so rare, this category offers the highest potential point total to a submission that is able to point out differences and to distinguish itself from closely similar projects completed or underway in other states.

Group

Innovation

Primarily an external focus that assesses the practical ability by other states to replicate or use as a benchmark, considering expected resources required and generality of the legal or structural environment in which the entry was implemented.
A project or initiative that can be used broadly by other states as a template will receive a higher score than one with benefits that appear to depend on the particular geography, environment, governmental structure or particular needs of the submitting state. In some cases, it may be necessary to explain how an apparent state-bound effort can be adapted for greater transferability.

Group 2228

Transferability

An internal focus that assesses the extent to which transactions or service delivery is made more effective; includes consideration of nature of stakeholder involvement by agencies/users in development &amp; implementation of program or project; change management strategy sufficient to promote adoption. Every purchasing organization provides a service to other state agencies, and this category is intended to assess results—the impact of the project on improving the delivery of those services.
More weight is given to specifics than to generalities. When metrics are provided, it is beneficial to include a short (non-technical) explanation of how those metrics were produced. Also, committee members look favorably on descriptions of the input, participation and adoption by stakeholders.

Group 2229

Service Improvement

Validated or potential for cost reduction, including considerations of efficiency. Although cost reduction may not be quite as highly weighted as the other three categories, well-documented estimates or projections of savings is often the determining factor between otherwise generally equal submissions. Cost savings figures are given more weight when they are objective and include an explanation of how they were derived.
Although increases in efficiency are less open to precise calculation, the manner or method by which the increase is realized should be described. In general, undocumented claims of very large cost reductions are less likely to receive higher scores than smaller, but significant and well-supported cost savings estimates.

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Cost Reduction

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2023 Cronin Submission Booklet

2023 Winners

Gold Winner

Silver Winner

Bronze Winner

Finalist

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2022 Cronin Submission Booklet

2022 Winners

2021 Cronin Submission Booklet

2021 Winners

Public Procurement Excellence Submissions

2019 Cronin Submission Booklet

2019 Winners

2018 Cronin Submission Booklet

2018 Winners

giulio-mazzone

Giulio Mazzone was a NASPO member, former NASPO President and the seventh recipient of the Distinguished Service Award. As the lightning rod behind NASPO’s recycling involvement, especially with paper and the ASTM, he cultivated a very good relationship between NASPO and the federal government.
As important, if not more important, he was a good friend, quick to make new members feel welcome and part of the organization, urging them to get involved. He was responsible for many members’ decisions to jump into the thick of things. Renaming the award after Guilio lost his fight to cancer represented both NASPO’s attempt to hold on to a little piece of the “Giulio magic,” and a restatement of the high bar this award represents to NASPO members.

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david-gragan

David Gragan

Please note:
The Mazzone Task Force, comprised of recipients of the award, selects an awardee only when it determines that a candidate meets the specific criteria for that award. It is not mandatory to present the award each year.

Giulio Mazzone

Keith McCook

General Counsel

Michael Jones

Honorary Member

Carol Wilson

Diane Lancaster

Norma Hall

Vern Jones

John Adler

Monica Wilkes

Jeff Holden

Jack Pitzer

20th Anniversary Special Mazzone Award

Ron Bell

Marvin Eicholtz

Voight Shealy

Ellen Phillips

Richard Pennington

Jan Hamik

Wayne Casper

None Selected

Denise Lea

Dugan Petty

Dave Gragan

Don Buffum

Doug Richins

Richard Thompson

Gary Lambert

Paula Moskowitz

Margaret McConnell

John Haggerty

Edward Erxleben

none selected

William S. Warstler

Thomas M. Bostick

Jack Spath

John Hittinger (posthumously)

Herman Crystal (posthumously)

Tom and Ethel Blanco

John Short

Willis Holding

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The NASPO Awards celebrate the outstanding contributions of individuals to the field of public procurement. These awards recognize excellence in various aspects of procurement, including innovation, leadership, and service to the profession.

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