The partnership is designed to connect experienced, mission-driven professionals with procurement roles across state agencies, according to a news release. NASPO is a nonprofit made up of the directors of the central purchasing offices from each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. Work for America is a nonprofit focused on easing the public-sector staffing crisis, according to its website.
“Our goal with the Civic Match collaboration is really to build on NASPO’s focus on talent development,” Daniel May, NASPO director of procurement talent development, said via email. “Civic Match, as a partner, is very committed to helping the federal workforce navigate current transitions, and this felt like a natural fit for NASPO — having available professionals who understand public procurement, contracts and grants gives us a great head start to bring that talent into state and local government procurement offices.”
Civic Match launched in late 2024 to help an estimated 4,000 political appointees and thousands more campaign staffers find new opportunities in public service. Since then, more than 6,300 job candidates have used the tool. Civic Match is now working with more than 170 U.S. cities and 47 states.
Elsewhere, several states and large cities are looking to help residents find work and fill their own open positions. Governors in Pennsylvania and New Mexico have issued executive orders to help inform and attract workers, and both states stood up workforce websites with that focus. Atlanta and Austin, Texas, are also working to recruit former federal employees.
NASPO was “already exploring ways to respond to the recent federal changes,” May said, and connected quickly with Civic Match. He described the new partnership as part of a “broad, strategic effort to build a career transition pipeline throughout other sectors.” The association is encouraging its member procurement offices to register for the free platform; it supported a Civic Match virtual career fair where presenters examined differences among federal, state and local procurement organizations. NASPO is getting the word out with traditional marketing but is also convening roundtables.
For context on procurement work trends, a 2024 Euna Solutions report found project growth and procurement needs were outpacing staffing growth, with a 19 percent rise in projects but only 1.8 percent growth in staff in about 100 organizations.
“The broader strategy for NASPO currently is to explore high stress careers — educators, attorneys, health-care professionals, military roles, federal workers — who might be interested in becoming procurement professionals,” May said. “Many of these individuals have demonstrated needed skills and have subject matter expertise, which then allows for a little bit of re-skilling to become procurement practitioners.”
