Month: March 2021

Procurement teams play a valuable role in helping public sector agencies thrive with limited resources. If you follow our blog, you know we’re pretty big fans of everything you do to make citizens’ lives better and communities stronger.

In the near future, procurement’s capacity for agility and strategic thinking will be put to the test even more, as agencies across North America face mounting economic fallout from COVID-19.

To survive and thrive, organizations will increasingly turn to procurement to guide cost-cutting efforts and make smart decisions that support the bottom line.

Is your team ready to step up and address the unique financial challenges of the coming months and years? Let’s look at how you can manage costs, optimize your spending, and strategically reevaluate budgets in 2021 and beyond.

Ensure projects support new priorities

One of the most important activities procurement teams are undertaking in 2021 is reevaluating budgets to ensure spending aligns with new priorities driven by the pandemic and (eventually) post-pandemic recovery.

For some agencies, that means deprioritizing capital projects and focusing on digital initiatives that help them work efficiently and deliver services from anywhere. The exact priorities will differ from one agency to the next, but the role of procurement is clear. Your team is best positioned to apply a bird’s-eye-view as budgets feel the strain of COVID-19.

Put current contracts under the microscope

Reevaluating budgets inevitably means scrutinizing current contracts to identify which ones should be cancelled or renegotiated. This includes weighing the potential financial impacts of altering project timelines or switching vendors.

Consider taking a deep dive into existing contracts to see if there’s scope for revisiting payment terms, changing purchasing frequency, leveraging volume discounts, or bringing prices in line with market competitors.

If you have access to up-to-date procurement data, you can review past purchases and supplier performance to identify opportunities to save money and renegotiate contracts.

Build partnerships that make you stronger

Although it may seem counterintuitive, cutting costs in the post-pandemic economy could require strategic investments in pricier vendors and new digital platforms that streamline processes. (More on that in the next section.)

While cost is still one of the most significant factors in purchasing decisions, your team will also need to weigh criteria like supply chain agility and organizational resilience more heavily when choosing suppliers and prioritizing projects. 

Having strong, high-quality relationships with reliable, established (and, yes, sometimes more expensive) vendors will be crucial to preventing unexpected costs down the road.

Go digital to boost efficiency

In 2021, procurement leaders are also looking to save money in the long run through upfront investments in digital solutions that improve relationships and communication with vendors, reduce administrative burden, increase compliance, and streamline workflows.

When it comes to managing costs, communication is especially important. Having strong relationships with suppliers helps procurement teams collaborate to keep costs down and make partnerships more sustainable. Centralized information-sharing and communication in real time will be crucial to navigating disruption now and into the future. 

Keep leaders in the loop

A centralized procurement approach can also drive significant savings for public agencies by eliminating overlapping supply requests across business groups and ensuring your procurement pipeline aligns with key priorities.

A unified process gives you greater visibility into purchasing across the organization, helping you work more collaboratively with senior managers to understand where and when departments are planning to spend their budget. In turn, leaders can forecast spend and reprioritize as necessary to make it through financially demanding periods.

Get creative to maximize budget

Your procurement team has lots of tools under its belt – not least of which is creative thinking. Exploring innovative, non-traditional approaches can help you unlock significant cost savings. 

Consider alternative supplier structures and purchasing strategies, including co-ops, best and final offers (BAFOs), invitations to negotiate (ITNs), and split award notices, which can drive competition and give you access to better pricing.

Embrace procurement’s next normal

As we’ve discussed, cutting costs in public procurement isn’t just about finding the best value. It’s also about mitigating risk to avoid negative fallout and unplanned expenses. Procurement teams are delivering that strategic leadership to help agencies manage today’s economic challenges through better sourcing, purchasing, and negotiation.

Looking for more guidance on how procurement teams can guide agencies through a post-pandemic world? Download our eBook, The Rise of Procurement’s Next Normal.

When COVID-19 forced public procurement teams across North America to go virtual, it set off a chain reaction of quick, knee-jerk technology investments.

Public sector institutions had to attend to urgent health and safety needs. Employees were sent to work from home—some for the first time ever. Procurement teams faced the challenge of rapidly sourcing suppliers amidst global supply chain disruptions. And traditionally in-person activities, like proposal submissions, public bid openings, and evaluations were no longer possible.

Particularly for agencies that hadn’t started (or finished) making the switch to digital platforms and processes, it became necessary to adopt or scale-up digital tools, virtually overnight.

Now, as we enter the second year of COVID-19 with the promise of mass vaccination in sight, many procurement teams find themselves asking: How well are our pandemic-driven digital solutions actually working?

Here’s why your team should be asking the same question, and how you can begin to reevaluate and future-proof your digital transformation approach.

Reconsidering ad-hoc solutions

If your team had to adopt new tools and processes in a short timeframe to deal with the COVID-19 emergency response, there wasn’t much time to strategize about the best approach for digitizing legacy systems and paper-based processes. 

Your goal was to address urgent needs as efficiently as possible using ad-hoc solutions to run essential processes. You may have initiated software trials or pilots, and now it’s time to ask: Do these tools have a place within our tech stack and processes?

For the most part, band-aid fixes won’t be the ideal solution for your agency, nor will they be sustainable over the long term. As McKinsey observes, many procurement departments “are trapped in pilot purgatory, making small investments in select use cases that never scale up to achieve real business impact.” That’s because, rather than driving better results, multiple, disconnected systems tend to introduce these and other problems:

• Higher costs
• Increased human error
• Workflow inefficiencies
• Data silos
• Misplaced files
• Audit trail gaps

If you don’t take the steps to evaluate your current technology and introduce a unified solution, there’s a risk that strung-together tools and processes – and their associated inefficiencies – could become permanent.

Meeting compliance standards

Are there any compliance shortfalls in our digital tools and processes? It’s a critical question public procurement teams need to consider at all times – but especially when evaluating new (and rapidly) adopted solutions.

Despite the emergency measures COVID-19 introduced, public procurement continues to be bound by pre-pandemic compliance standards. Without detailed audit trails to justify evaluation conclusions, you could be forced to reconsider proposals and decisions – a situation that came up multiple times in 2020 by order of the US Government Accountability Office.

When measuring new digital solutions against compliance capabilities, your procurement team should ensure they provide purpose-built tools that ensure state and federal law compliance.

With the right digital platform, you can minimize legal risk and ensure you meet all required standards, without relying on the knowledge and expertise of transitory subject matter experts.

Driving post-pandemic digital strategy

The ultimate question to answer when evaluating your digital tools is: Will they support our post-pandemic digital transformation? 

Although meeting the challenge of COVID-19 has depended on agile decision-making and a make-do approach, going forward, your technology investments will need to support your long-term growth and innovation.

In order to evaluate sustainability over the long haul, it’s worth considering how well your technology helps you do the following:

• Connect, digitize and manage your operations end to end, from intake to contract management
• Centralize your project pipeline, so everything is easily accessible in one place
• Make processes intuitive and easy to use for all internal clients
• Accelerate, rather than impede, project lifecycles
• Support decision-making with an airtight audit trail
• Provide full project transparency and robust reporting

By securing future-proof software solutions that meet the needs we’ve discussed, your procurement team can satisfy your constituents and stakeholders as you chart a path to digital transformation based on efficiency, compliance, and vendor engagement.

Most importantly, a strong digital strategy will ensure your team is equipped to play a central role in driving economic and societal recovery beyond the pandemic.

Procurement teams have a lot to consider when navigating digital transformation during and after COVID-19. Our latest eBook is here to help. Download The Rise of Procurement’s Next Normal today.

When COVID-19 threatened to send the world into chaos and confusion over a year ago, procurement teams sprung into action. In stepping up to protect the safety of communities and citizens, you could say they’re a lot like the heroes of everyone’s favorite Star Wars movies. 

In that spirit, let’s take a look at six ways public procurement teams are like the Rebel Alliance in empowering agencies to respond to and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

1. Like the Millennium Falcon, they move at light speed.

During the initial response to the pandemic, procurement teams had to nimbly adjust their processes, timelines, and priorities to source goods and services as quickly as possible. Like the Millennium Falcon evading the evil Empire, they’ve been on an urgent mission ever since to keep essential processes like vendor proposal submissions, public bid openings, and evaluations running. 

More than any other government function, procurement departments have adapted to meet constantly changing needs and troubleshoot ongoing supply chain disruptions while moving most of their processes online. For many agencies, that meant compressing three to five years’ worth of digital transformation into just weeks (or even days). Now that’s moving at light speed.

2. Their team is small but mighty.

Just as Luke and Han Solo team up to destroy the Death Star, today’s small-but-mighty procurement teams are well-accustomed to running lean and doing more with less. That challenge has only been exacerbated by the pandemic’s impact on public sector finances. In the near term, procurement will be tapped to support strategic decision-making around cost cuts and budget reprioritization.

At the same time, procurement teams will face the growing challenge of helping agencies meet stakeholder expectations with fewer resources. That puts even more pressure on their ability to be like C-3PO and speak every department’s language. It’s a lot to ask considering many procurement teams are a solo operation. Going forward, procurement will rely on more efficient tools and processes to respond to the skyrocketing demand for their expertise and services.

3. They’re the unseen hero in times of crisis.

From rapidly supplying the frontlines with PPE to navigating international supply shortages of hand sanitizer, procurement is, and continues to be, a driving force for creating safe living and working environments during COVID-19. 

Remember how Princess Leia protected the stolen plans to the Death Star? Procurement teams have been the custodians of crucial plans, too—in this case, to keep communities protected throughout the course of the pandemic. While COVID-19 is shining a spotlight on their important role in crisis response and recovery efforts, they’re not in it for the glory. (Though a thank you is always nice.)

4. Just as the lightsaber is the weapon of a Jedi Knight, they have their own secret weapons—data and digital tools.

Not unlike Jedis who wield their lightsabers to fight the powers of evil, today’s procurement professionals summon their own version of the Force: smart, automated tools. And while the evils they’re fighting – process inefficiencies and time-wasting manual effort – aren’t exactly threatening to obliterate the galaxy, they do compromise the best interests of citizens.

Through the pandemic, procurement teams have used data-driven processes and insights to drive bottom-line impact. From expediting information gathering and reducing manual steps to supporting faster decision-making, technologies like eSourcing and community-aggregated templates are all helping procurement teams get critical projects off the ground faster.

5. Their ultimate goal is to protect the forces of good.

Above all else, the rebel alliance is fueled by the forces of good, just like forward-thinking procurement professionals who strive to advance social good through government purchasing power. As citizens demand action to fight racial injustice and governments are being called on to advance equity and diversity in their decision-making, procurement departments are in a position to lead the way by creating a level playing field for diverse suppliers. 

Equitable, inclusive spending policies can direct a larger share of the billions of dollars governments spend on procurement goods and services toward local, minority- and women-owned businesses. That, in turn, drives economic and social value and addresses disparities that have only been worsened by the COVID-19 crisis.

6. Even in trying times, they have a bold vision for a better future.

When dark forces threaten to take over, the Rebel Alliance mobilizes to defend against Imperial troops and protect the future of the galaxy. High-performing procurement teams are visionaries, too, when it comes to the fight against COVID-19. Focused on the big picture, they work to build innovative, future-proof approaches to serving citizens and employees. 

Public agencies will face many challenges in the coming years, including cost-cutting measures and reprioritization that will test their ability to think creatively, collaborate, and integrate new technologies. In facing an uncertain world, procurement teams have hope, optimism, and confidence in the power of public services to make people’s lives better.

COVID-19 has transformed the path of procurement forever. How can procurement teams embrace and define the next normal to thrive during the pandemic and beyond? Check out our latest eBook The Rise of Procurement’s Next Normal to learn more.

It’s Procurement Appreciation Month, and although we’ve already kicked off the celebrations, we’re not ready to stop! Public procurement teams: we want—no, we need—to keep singing your praises because you truly are the unsung heroes of our communities. This month is also a very special milestone for our team here at Bonfire as we celebrate our 9 year anniversary in business. We’ve come a long way and we wouldn’t be where we are without our clients and an industry that continues to evolve, striving to find new efficiencies in their processes. With that, here’s 9 reasons to celebrate Procurement Appreciation Month: 

1. Recognizing the unsung heroes

We’ve said it before, but it’s worth saying again. Procurement Appreciation Month gives us the opportunity to sing the praises of the traditionally unsung heroes. Many of your constituents—and most likely others who work in your agencies—don’t always realize what exactly you do, or how you do it, but for those ‘in the know,’ we understand how much you do, and the impacts you leave in your community.

2. The backbone of emergency response

You kept things running smoothly during COVID-19 lockdowns… but this isn’t the first major crisis you’ve handled. Whether it be global pandemics, snowstorms, hurricanes, forest fires, or flooding, you’ve rolled your sleeves up ready to work—and work fast. Your strategic thinking, vendor preparedness, and established workflow processes have got us through some challenging times.

3. Stewards of taxpayer dollars 

Public procurement isn’t just about getting the best price, it’s really about finding the best value in a way that’s compliant and transparent. This is often a guiding principle for public procurement teams because you’re not spending corporate dollars, you’re spending taxpayer dollars—as the saying goes, ‘spend it like it’s your own’, and that is exactly what you do. 

4. Defenders of fraud

Unfortunately, there are many organizations that would be happy to take advantage of your agency, and more specifically, your taxpayers’ dollars. But you’re armed and experienced to recognize the signs. You have detailed workflows and processes in place to ensure any vendors that your organization works with are vetted, approved, and certified to ensure fraud doesn’t creep its way in. 

5. Agents for social good

Public procurement teams have always been aware of the need to balance awarded contracts with Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBE’s), but in the last year social justice movements gained momentum. It became clear to those in the industry that procurement departments have the opportunity to truly promote social good by creating a level playing field for diverse suppliers. It’s exciting to observe and support public procurement as you play a key role in supporting these social movements.

6. Advocates for community-based vendors

Public procurement teams are passionate about engaging their vendors and ensuring those vendors feel supported through effective two-way communication and transparent evaluation. The number one question we are asked here at Bonfire when procurement teams are evaluating our solution is: Will my vendors be happy? (Spoiler alert: yes!)  

7. Building a future

Public procurement isn’t just representative of government procurement; there are many facets and public education is a big piece of the puzzle. The procurement teams who work in the academic sector must be recognized for their work to ensure students have the best resources and environments to learn, grow, and prosper. The procurement decisions made in this sector help to define the next generation. 

8. Fueling the Bonfire Strategic Sourcing Solution

We’re so grateful to work with your procurement teams and be part of this community of professionals. You are constantly sharing feedback, ideas, and best practices with us and others in the field so that, together, you can improve and provide the best outcomes for your customers and constituents. It’s because of this natural desire to improve that Bonfire has also flourished. Your feedback has driven new features, enhancements, and helped to guide our product roadmap. Not to mention, you simply inspire and motivate us every day to put our best foot forward!

9. Returning your kind words

We work with over 450 public procurement teams across North America and thousands of procurement professionals. Every day we humbly receive emails or phone calls of gratitude, whether it’s because we got your team up and running on our solution within a month, or because our support team answered some questions for your vendor, or because we provided you with some best practices for building your latest RFP template. To take time out of your busy day to deliver these kind words is so much appreciated, and we thank you for that. 

“Thank you” from Bonfire CEO, Corry Flatt

Our CEO at Bonfire, Corry Flatt, wanted to take a moment this month to provide a special thanks to all those who work in public procurement… 

COVID-19 has undoubtedly exposed just how critical (and difficult) the role of public procurement is. Vaccine sourcing and distribution, vendor diversification initiatives, and supply chain shortages have thrust municipal procurement teams in the spotlight as you navigate these unchartered waters.

As you innovate and adapt to respond to the crisis now and prepare for a post-pandemic future, it’s more important than ever for public procurement professionals like yourself to connect with your peers to learn from their experience. That’s why, here at Bonfire, we hosted our first 2021 virtual user meet-up for municipalities from February 23 to 26. These sessions, spread over the span of four days, brought together procurement professionals from over 40 cities and counties from across North America. Here’s an insider look into what attendees learned. 

Day 1: Procurement in 2021 panel

We kicked off the meetup week with Bonfire’s Chief Client & Product Officer, Omar Salaymeh, speaking to the growth of our municipal client base and the trends we’ve seen across municipalities. We introduced the virtual audience to the over 40 organizations that had registered for sessions—setting the tone for a week full of collaboration and networking across regions.

The real show stopper of the day was our Procurement in 2021 panel. Ron Shoram, Business Analyst at Fairfax County, dove into his recommendations for supporting and aligning his county’s 70+ procurement stakeholders. Crystal Vandermeulen, Procurement Analyst at the City of Kamloops, grabbed everyone’s attention by sharing how her team rolled out a vendor performance program. Shawn Garris, Procurement Analyst at the City of New Haven, shared his recommendations for designing and maintaining a vendor diversity initiative. 

Day 2: Peer-led toolkit session

Marla Bossons from the District of North Cowichan kept a captive audience as she dove into her best practices using Bonfire’s intake, projects, and lifecycle modules. She kicked off her session sharing that after 20 years in the finance department, she expanded the scope of her role into procurement 6 years ago and formalized their procurement rollout. Marla highlighted how she uses Bonfire to:

• Achieve a consistent, defensible, and transparent process throughout the lifecycle of a project
• Get notifications and reminders so nothing slips through the cracks when it comes to renewals, insurance reminders, rate changes, evaluations, and more
• Easily access all procurement information in one central location
• Provide stakeholders with a quick glance at the status of projects

Marla received lots of questions throughout her session and left attendees with plenty of tips and tricks. 

Day 3: Meet the Bonfire product team

Day 3 was all about giving our clients insight into what’s to come in the Bonfire platform. We gave a sneak peek into our upcoming Approvals feature, which is designed to consolidate approvals at every stage of the procurement process in one central place. 

At Bonfire, our product roadmap has always been inspired by our rockstar clients, so we always appreciate an opportunity to get feedback and ideas on how the platform can better serve them. We divided clients into smaller breakout rooms to discuss what they love about being a part of the Bonfire community, and how we can integrate those benefits in the platform. There was a collective feeling that procurement isn’t meant to be done in a silo, and there were lots of ideas on ways clients could learn from their Bonfire peers to improve and streamline their process through the platform.

To end the day, we discussed the challenges that come with tracking vendor diversity, especially given some recent policy changes that have made it even more critical. Teams discussed how they manage these challenges today, and how Bonfire as a partner could improve this very critical step of the process. 

Day 4: Municipality roundtable

This day was entirely dedicated to focused discussions centered on topics most pressing for municipalities in 2021. Topics of discussion that emerged in these breakout rooms included:

• How Bonfire was able to connect procurement with suppliers amidst nationwide PPE shortages
• Tracking supplier diversity and ways Bonfire can assist with tracking and reporting
• Supplying services and products necessary to ramp up vaccine rollout efforts 
• Using Bonfire alongside an ERP
• How COVID increased the need for an efficient and effective process, exposing ways old processes and systems weren’t supporting public procurement in the way they needed
• Transitioning vendors to an online submission platform

Overall, it was a fantastic week full of shared client insight, networking, and a look into municipal procurement in 2021. For a look into upcoming virtual user meet-ups, visit our website!

Democrats from the U.S. House of Representatives released the full text of the $1.9 trillion COVID Relief Bill formally cited as the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. In the bill is an appropriation of $130.2 billion for the Fiscal Recovery Fund to mitigate the fiscal effects on local governments stemming from the public health emergency. According to the latest report by ICMA, over 84% of local governments in the United States had revenue negatively impacted because of COVID-19, and federal aid to supplement the grants provided through the 2020 CARES Act is considered a critical need.

The appropriation, as proposed, will be distributed 50% to Cities and Nonentitlement Units of Local Governments and 50% to Counties.

The distribution of $65.1 billion of payments to Cities and Nonentitlement Units of Local Governments are further divided into:

• $45.57 billion to Metropolitan Cities or municipalities with a population over 50,000; and
• $19.53 billion to Nonentitlement Units of Local Government or municipalities with a population under 50,000.

The allocation of payment for Metropolitan Cities is pursuant to the formula under section 106(b)(1) of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5306(b)(1)), except that, in applying such formula, the Secretary shall substitute ‘all metropolitan cities’ for ‘all metropolitan areas’ in each place it appears. Basically, the allocation will be in direct proportion to each city’s population.

There is no capped amount for Metropolitan Cities, but the capped amount for Nonentitlement Units of Local Government may not exceed the amount equal to 75% of the most recent budget for the Nonentitlement unit of Local Government as of January 27, 2020.

The remaining $65.1 billion are for payments to counties within the 50 States, including the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa. The amount allocated will be based on each County’s population as reserved under the Fiscal Recovery Fund.

There are special rules and definitions for urban counties and counties that are not Units of general local government, and consolidated governments. For the purpose of this proposed legislation, the District of Columbia is regarded as a single county.

A metropolitan city, Nonentitlement Unit of Local Government, or County receiving a payment from funds made available under this section shall only use such amounts to:

1.  respond to or mitigate the public health emergency with respect to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID–19) or its negative economic impacts;

2.  cover costs incurred as a result of such emergency;

3.  replace revenue that was lost, delayed, or decreased (as determined based on revenue projections for the metropolitan city, Nonentitlement unit of local government, or county as of January 27, 2020) as a result of such emergency; or

4.  address the negative economic impacts of such emergency.

Using a nonofficial and rudimentary methodology to estimate the distribution using U.S. Census data for 2019, the following apportionments are approximations of what might be expected by Metropolitan Cities and Nonentitlement Units of Local Government:

This map will be updated continually as the formulas and definitions are more crystallized.

The new aid could make all the difference for local governments needing to make tough decisions this year about essential worker layoffs, distributing the COVID-19 vaccine, and other public health and safety initiatives. The legislation was passed by Congress on Saturday and will now be passed on to the Senate for approval this month.

This article was originally published in the Questica newsroom.

For more information on maximizing your COVID-19 funding, download this essential guide.

Our friends at The Institute for Public Procurement have declared March as “Procurement Appreciation Month” and we couldn’t be happier to celebrate the too-often unsung heroes of public agencies. Procurement Appreciation Month is celebrated throughout the month of March and is dedicated to honoring public procurement professionals. It provides a more formal opportunity to take time to thank all public procurement teams for the work they accomplish throughout the year. 

Here at Bonfire, we are passionate about supporting our public procurement clients and ensuring their success. We’re always amazed at the lengths they go to in order to make things happen and support their teams or their internal clients. 

We ran a questionnaire for our Bonfire employees and asked them “How do you describe our clients?” The answers included key words like heroes, hustlers, innovative, caring, and front-line supporters. Especially in the last year of COVID-19, teams have risen to the challenge and found new ways of working while ensuring day-to-day operations take on little to no impact amidst the disruption. 

Many of our clients have also won awards recently and we couldn’t be more proud! The Ventura County Government procurement team announced that they were awarded the Achievement of Excellence in Procurement from the National Procurement Institute (NPI). Congratulations team! Procurement Manager Cliff Chroust shared his excitement for the win and said, “The 2020 Achievement of Excellence in Procurement award arrived!!! It’s a great procurement team that makes this happen!” 

Thank you to all of the Bonfire procurement heroes who push the boundaries of innovation and inspire our team to come to work every day and think of new functionality to support you. We love being a part of your team!