COVINGTON, Ga. - The Newton County School System has been awarded the prestigious 23rd Annual Achievement of Excellence in Procurement Award for 2018 from the National Purchasing Institute.   The award recognizes excellence in procurement by measuring organizations against standardized benchmarks that represent best practices within the profession. These criteria include innovation, professionalism, e-procurement, productivity, and leadership.  The Newton County School System was one of six school systems in Georgia and one of only 26 school systems throughout the United States and Canada to receive the award for 2018. This is the seventh consecutive year the procurement department has won the AEP Award.

“I am tremendously proud of our team,” Greg Goins, procurement coordinator for the school system, said.  “Only eight school systems in North America have a longer consecutive AEP award-winning streak than our department. The six award winners in Georgia consist of five of the largest school systems in the state (Gwinnett, Cobb, Fulton, Clayton, Atlanta Public) and us. This speaks to the quality of our personnel, their synergy, dedication, hard work, tenacity and commitment to continuous improvement.”

In addition to NPI, the Achievement of Excellence in Procurement Award is sponsored and recognized by over a dozen professional public procurement associations and organizations, including the National Association of State Procurement Officials, the National Association of Educational Procurement and the National Institute of Governmental Procurement.