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Derek Cockburn - Ministry of Community Development and Tourism, Culture and Arts
DEREK COCKBURN, CGA
With B.C. government since 1992, Derek Cockburn's route to contracting was through finance. An October 2008 graduate of the PCMP, he has been Manager, Contracts and Policy Review for the ministries of Community Development and Tourism, Culture and Arts for the last two years. He deals with contracts from $5,000 into the millions for, among others, the municipalities in the province, tourism development, and recreation sites and trails. We interviewed him in December 2008 in Victoria.
Better support for clients
The biggest benefit of having graduated from the PCMP is that the clients we're serving at the ministries know I've gone through the program, and it gives them comfort that I'll be able to support them better. One of my goals is to actively promote PCMP more within our ministries and try to raise the profile of it.
The right mix
The PCMP is a good mix of the online and classroom work, and access to the online library. Those are really good tools. I think the big value is that they made this real, not a theoretical course.
The importance of connections
The PCMP courses gave me a chance to meet with other people and get some idea of how they would deal with certain situations. I also participate on the provincial Procurement Council, so between that and the network from the PCMP, there's a lot of good access to people and information. It's building resources.
Having done the PCMP has also given me a chance to discuss things with executive in the ministries, and it's nice to be able to say, "Here's the best practice coming out of this great new program, here are things we should be aware of." They're very supportive of the program.
Commonalities = efficiencies
I think we're lucky here in B.C., with all of the emphasis that the B.C. government has put on this program, and that procurement is being recognized as important. The government needs to keep promoting and supporting it. It's really good, because when we're talking across ministries, we assume now that we're all going from the same platform; we all understand what we're saying, and that makes things easier and more efficient.
In other jurisdictions, procurement is still viewed as a part of finance or operations. It would make life easier if all of the provinces and territories had the same training. In the private-sector, there's recognition of standards, but within provincial governments in Canada, this is the first of it.
Derek Cockburn, CGA
B.C. Ministry of Community Development
and
B.C. Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts
(250) 356-9017