CPPB PRACTICE TEST (50 QUESTIONS) WITH COMPLETE SOLUTIONS

CPPB PRACTICE TEST (50 QUESTIONS) WITH COMPLETE SOLUTIONS An organization's mission statement should: Express the organization's purpose for existence An agency is revising its document retention schedule. To what should the governmental entity look for guidance? Legal and statutory requirements An agency is looking into cooperative purchasing practices. After conducting some analysis, the agency would like to "piggyback" its purchases with other agencies that are participating in cooperative purchasing. When using a "piggyback" method, what would the arrangement be called? Cooperative Contract A governmental agency has a threshold for small purchases of $1000 and three quotes are required above that figure. There has been a steady increase int he number of field purchase orders, along with recent complaints from internal customers about it taking too long to buy what they need. Which of the following actions is most likely to have the biggest impact on reducing costs and saving time in the long run? Instituting a purchase card program Can be used to determine the impact of the expenditure patterns within a supply market a procurement profile A governmental agency processed a purchase requisition for the purchase of direct-read water meters. Which fund should a purchasing agent check to confirm that the money was available for this purchase? Operating Fund/Capital Fund The governmental agency has recently acquired a piece of property on which an old hotel of no notable historical significance sits. The city manager wants to perform construction on the site. A local preservation group, however, has made some overtures that they will oppose the governmental agency's plan to demolish the hotel. The city manger has asked the purchasing department to handle the preservation group's concerns. How should the department proceed? Notify the upper management and recommend a meeting with the group's leader to discuss their concerns In today's economic and political environments, what is the MOST effective structure for governmental purchasing agencies. Establishing a combination of centralized and decentralized operations A governmental agency has a non-competition threshold that says any purchase below $5,000 does not require competition. Over a three month period a requesting user has asked a 3 separate occasions to directly purchase without competition, products needed by the agency. On each occasion the value of the purchase was approximately $4,500. What should the buyer do? Remind the requester of the code restrictions on fragmenting orders A buyer is charged with purchasing diesel fuel for the transit system. What type of study should be conducted to determine how best to make this purchase? Market analysis Upon receipt a Purchase Requisition for a small buy commodity, the first step the buyer would normally take would be to: Determine if the item is available in surplus stock The government agency is changing its performance measures from primarily cost related measures to value-added benefits. To implement this change, the agency would want to consider all of the following steps EXCEPT? Plan the change in detail so that it can be implemented in a 30-day period A buyer is asked to conduct a review and evaluation of cost data in order to determine actual costs or estimates of costs to be incurred. This process is known as: Cost Analysis An agency manager submitted a request for five-year lease on a special tractor that he plans to modify and use for raking the beach during the summer. He has money in his budget to cover the lease cost. What's the most important thing to consider before going forward with the leasing process? Many lease agreements will not permit modifications of any kind to the leased equipment A communications director, procurement specialist and budget specialist have all been added to an acquisition planning team to procure a new countywide communications system. In addition to the team already assembled,which of the following would NOT be included on this acquisition planning team? County Chief Property Tax Assessor A governmental agency has issued a purchase requisition to to acquire software for its finance department. Immediately upon receiving the requisition, the buyer should do all the following EXCEPT which task? Call the recommended vendor for prices A well known supplier provides milk to public school districts throughout the state. Over the last six years, a senior buyer has been responsible for soliciting bids and making awards for the purchase of vanilla and chocolate milk for each of the twelve schools in his district. Although he has solicited more than four different milk providers during this time, the well known supplier is the only one that provides a bid response and the bid prices increase by 1.5% each year. Based on this pattern of bidding, the buyer should take the following action: Contact all other bidders to determine why they did not bid on the agency's requirements Which of the following statements best describes a brand name specification? Describes the standard of quality and performance with a unique qualifier When an award protest is filed with your agency, the procurement professional should: Always delay the start of the project A public official met with a general contractor for a large construction company. The official shared the details of a new school soon to be built in the agency's geographical area. As they walked out the door, the public official told the contractor (off the record) that the supplier could be a contractor on the project. What impact does this assurance have on the agency? The agency is at risk for a protest after the award A Best and Final Offer (BAFO) Allows for price change after receipt of the proposal A supplier has provided plumbing materials to the government agency for a number of years. The supplier's owner spent many hours preparing his prices for the upcoming one year blanket order solicitation. However, in his haste to meet the bid closing date and time the supplier forgot to sign the supplier's bid signature document that accompanied the solicitation. The buyer can generally accept the supplier's bid without a signature when: The failure to sign is an obvious an oversight The buyer has been working closely with the Department of Public Works Director to acquire a new piece of proprietary software needed to upgrade the waste water treatment plant operating equipment. When purchasing this software, what would be the most appropriate method of acquisition? The contract should be negotiated with the vendor A school purchasing agent was contacted by the local government Operation Facilities Director regarding an unusual and complex procurement situation. It is believe that an old underground oil storage tank on school property, close to the building and near the playground may have sprung a leak. Since the school has been consuming considerably more oil than normal this year, this may be the cause of the increase. The underground oil leak may also contaminate the school's nearby fresh water drinking supply well. Remedial action is required. How should the school purchasing agent approach this situation in acquiring the services of a qualified contractor? Use the request for proposal method A governmental entity must replace a piece of equipment. It is the middle of the fiscal year and there are no capital fund appropriated for the equipment. Which of the following would generally NOT be an option for the entity? Issue a purchase order now, knowing that the new equipment will not be delivered until the next fiscal year when capital funds will be available. In a typical product acquisition, when does the risk of loss pass to the purchaser? At the time specified in the F.O.B terms (Freight On Board) The purchasing officer of the governmental agency has expressed serious concerns about the number of repetitive requisitions, solicitations and purchase orders that are being processed to purchase gasoline for the organization. Every time a new order is placed, another requisition is being created and the prices paid by each department are not consistent; sometimes more and sometimes less depending on competition and timing. The buyer advises that the solution would be to compete for the following type of government agency requirements contract award. Fixed-price with escalation/de-escalation A blanket contract is an agreement Providing items, or services on an "as needed" basis Governmental agencies sometimes hold supplier interviews during the panning process. Which of the following is a benefit of conducting such interviews? Allows the supplier to provide greater information on product availability A governmental agency wants to implement a Just In Time (JIT) system for paper, toner and cartridges. The buyer is reviewing a proposal from a supplier. What would be the primary purpose of a site visit? To evaluate the supplier's on-line ordering and warehousing capability The governmental agency has entered into a performance-based contract with a local cleaning service to clean the offices at the county government center. What should the buyer focus on to ensure supplier compliance? Monitoring the desired outcomes defined in the Statement of Work The governmental agency has a contract with a hazardous materials management company to remove asbestos from 83 school buildings. What is the best method for the agency to employ to ensure compliance with the contract specifications? Third-party certification When preparing for a negotiation session, what knowledge will give the governmental negotiator the most power? Knowing what the other side really wants and needs A building contract to do certain work, contains within itself which o the following that would state that the work shall be done in a professional manner? implied warranty The Contracting Officer for a major construction project waited too long before taking effective corrective measures with the contractor. This resulted in an inadequate foundation for the building. Which step should have been followed to avoid such a major delay in the project? Milestone monitoring Awards CANNOT be made from a(n) RFI -Request for Information A governmental agency is negotiating the procurement of a major contract. Which of the following persons should be included on the team to ensure that a newly manufactured product meets the requirements of the item to be acquired? A certified engineer A supplier has completed the work identified in the specifications, but the governmental agency has determined that additional work is required to complete the project. The procurement professional should: Issue a change order under the existing contract. A governmental agency has been having problems with a vendor's performance and is looking to terminate their contract with the vendor. Which of the following would be the best first step in addressing the issue with the vendor? Address with on-site supervisor/contractor An excusable delay may be caused by: A tornado If a jurisdiction is required to discontinue a contract prior to completion because of its own needs and not the poor performance of the selected contractor, the RFP document will need to include an(n): Termination for Convenience clause The supplier of a performance based contract that has an initial three (3) year term with two (2) one-year extensions upon satisfactory performance, has failed to perform in accordance with specified delivery schedules and do not promptly respond to quality issues in a timely manner. This problem has been ongoing; however, the supplier has not been given any formal notice of the problems. The internal user does not want the contract extended for the remaining two (2) one-year periods, and to terminate the contract immediately for cause. The contract administrator should: Use the "cure notice" procedures an give notice of the failures to the supplier An agency purchased specialized software. Four weeks after the software was accepted an installed, a defect in the software became apparent. The procurement department can file a claim for what type of loss or damage? Concealed Damage The high number of governmental agency retirees and changes in the workforce makes what practice increasingly critical? Knowledge documentation Strategic procurement planning (SP2) involves: Transforming mission, goals and objectives into measurable activities Which of the following would be considered the best example of an outcome achieved by using a judgmental forecasting process? Each of the major automotive manufacturers will increase the number of hybrid vehicles available for sale The procurement officer knew that the acquisition of six new multi-million dollar technology systems was gong to be a long and drawn out process. Discussions focusing on specifications, needs and potential suppliers by the users departments had broken down many times. The IT department thought the contract should be awarded to one particular company. What is the BEST explanation of the breakdown in communication? The purchasing employees did not feel comfortable speaking up and candidly giving feedback to the end users. The relationship between the procurement department and an end-user group has deteriorated over time. The end users disagree with how recent procurement requests have been processed. Which technique should NOT be used to resolve the differences? Identifying errors The purchasing department is responsible for managing procurement communication infrastructure. Which of the following is a benefit to the end user and the process? Provides a common repository for data Which is the most effective training technique to ensure that an internal customer writes clear and complete specifications? Provide an agency prepared checklist