IT Procurement Training

In-person training will be held in the VITA training room located at 7325 Beaufont Springs Drive, Richmond, VA 23225. Virtual sessions will be hosted on Zoom. You will receive the Zoom link and passcode after you register, and VITA will also resend them the morning of the training.

Current topics include:

• IT foundations and VITA overview: During this session, we will explore why purchasing IT goods and services is unique compared to other public purchases, why and how VITA serves as the Commonwealth's central IT procurement body and how VITA's governance framework fulfills CIO responsibilities.
• Methods and governance in IT public procurement: This session provides an overview of the different methods of procurement available to public bodies under the Virginia Public Procurement Act (VPPA). It also offers a detailed description of the relevant governance and oversight steps and best practices when using each procurement method.
• Cloud services sourcing process: Experts from our cloud sourcing services team will provide an overview of the COV Ramp process, explain when COV Ramp applies, how to best navigate the cloud sourcing process and how to successfully negotiate cloud terms and conditions. This session will also cover cloud sourcing process improvements.
• VITA statewide contracts overview: Our statewide sourcing team will provide an overview of their program, including category management, the benefits of using statewide contracts and how to find and utilize those contracts. The team will also offer informational sessions on two statewide contracts: the software value-added resellers (VAR) contracts and the IT contingent labor (ITCL) program contract.
• Sourcing strategy development and building solicitation requirements: This session covers how to develop an effective IT sourcing strategy and translate it into clear, actionable solicitation requirements. It also explores best practices in conducting IT market research and highlights key considerations, such as aligning sourcing decisions with organizational goals, assessing technology needs, evaluating procurement options and defining requirements that are complete, compliant and vendor neutral.
• VITA security program overview: One of VITA's primary objectives is the security of the Commonwealth's IT assets. In this session, you will learn how VITA's security teams work in parallel with SCM to ensure Commonwealth contracts contain strong security requirements and provisions.

While the primary audience is executive branch agency IT procurement officers, VITA encourages all COV IT stakeholders including project managers, AITRs, agency information security officers and IT business owners to attend the session.

Registration is through the Department of General Services' Virginia Institute of Procurement learning management system (LMS):

• Log in to the LMS portal located here: Public Dashboard | Virginia Institute of Procurement
• If you do not have an account, select log in and sign up.
• Once logged in, select the catalog tile.
• Select the VITA Course title to reach the VITA 2026 Third Quarter IT Procurement Training Course page.
• Select Enroll.
• Select Start to access day one, two and three.
• Select either the in-person or virtual session option for each day of training (choose only one option per day).
• Complete registration for each day you will attend.
• Note: Registration closes seven days before training begins.

Yes. Localities are welcome and encouraged to attend.

The training is free. Registration is required, but there is no cost to attend.

You will learn how security experts can contribute to developing quality IT solicitations and contracts, ensure compliance with VITA standards and share subject matter expertise throughout all phases of IT procurement.

• Attendance is tracked daily.
• All attendees receive Virginia Institute of Procurement (VIP) continuing education credits for each day they attend.
• An attendance form will be sent each morning and must be completed by end of day to receive credit.

• If you can no longer attend email VIP at: absorb@dgs.virginia.gov to cancel.
• If you need to switch from in-person to virtual, you must cancel the in-person registration and enroll in the virtual option.
• Each day is limited to 100 virtual and 60 in-person participants. If the sessions fill up, you will be added to a waitlist. Please read your registration emails carefully to confirm your status.