New name, new look … same mission

Thanks to our crack “pit crew” – led by NIGP Marketing Director Brent Maas, Art Director Samantha Himes and a host of others – Government Procurement is sporting a new logo, a new look and a new energy. This rather dramatic transformation stems from the recently announced partnership between Penton Media, the largest independent business-to-business media company in the United States (and the publisher of Government Procurement), and NIGP, the premier professional association for local, state and federal government purchasing and contracting agents.

The result of this union is GO PRO: The Official Publication of the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing.

Just as this year’s Forum promises attendees more educational and professional opportunities than ever, we believe that the Penton/NIGP partnership will enable GO PRO to provide procurement practitioners with more resources, insights, strategies and best practices than ever before. In other words, we’re revving our engines in anticipation of giving you the tools to take your career to the winner’s circle.

Without further adieu, let’s take a peak under the hood of GO PRO.

• New name: GO PRO couldn’t be a more perfect moniker for the publication. As the theme of NIGP’s current marketing campaign and an acronym for Government Procurement, GO PRO speaks of the collaborative and collegial nature of this partnership as well as the synergies that Government Procurement and NIGP can achieve. For those reasons and many more, GO PRO represents a unified voice for the public-sector procurement community. Of course, while the name is a bit different, the goal remains the same: providing relevant, practical and cutting-edge content for the procurement profession. We believe we’re better equipped than ever to do that.
• New look: The logo has changed. The fonts have changed. The columns, departments and features have a new look. From top to bottom and front to back, GO PRO sports a more modern, open and inviting design. To me, the redesign is more than just the visual manifestation of the new partnership. I view our new design as a symbol of the dynamic and evolving nature of the procurement profession. By incorporating new techniques and technologies into the profession, procurement practitioners have proven that there’s nothing stodgy about public-sector procurement. There’s certainly nothing stodgy about our new look.
• New content structure: While we’re jazzed about the magazine’s new design, we’re well-aware that the content is the engine that drives the publication. In an effort to beef up our powertrain, so to speak, GO PRO will continue to offer the best of Government Procurement – you’ll still find articles by regular contributors such as Scot Case and David Yarkin – while delivering new content that gives readers an inside look at the people, programs and practices that make NIGP the leading professional organization for procurement practitioners. To give this blended content a logical, user-friendly flow, we’ve organized articles and departments into several overarching sections: “Perspectives” (editorials and letters to the editor); “People” (new members, achievements and profiles); “Hot Topics” (news and issues); “In Depth” (features and whitepapers); “Resources” (NIGP seminars, educational offerings and other resources); and “Back Pages” (products and “Profundities”).

As excited as we are about this “inaugural” edition, you may have to excuse our dust for these first few issues. As we bring two organizations together to serve a common mission, there undoubtedly will be a few bugs to work out. But we’ll strive for continuous improvement, and we’re convinced that the end result will be something very special: a publication worthy of serving this noble profession.

Enjoy.