Many public organizations operate in a partially or completely decentralized procurement model. This means that while the procurement team handles the majority of bids and RFPs, some departments or divisions (commonly Facilities or Public Works) run their own separate procurement process. 

All too often, this results in a situation where the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing, leading to organizational risk and missed opportunities. Many teams are looking to centralize procurement spend under one umbrella to gain better visibility into the big picture.

In the second instalment of the Bonfire Fall Webinar Series for Clients, we demonstrate how Bonfire makes it easier to centralize procurement across the organization to realize the benefits of visibility and consistency. 

Watch the full recording, or read on for a brief summary.

Managing multiple departments in Bonfire 

Procurement teams can establish different Departments within the Bonfire platform. This allows teams to centralize all of their organization’s procurement activities in one place, while preserving a measure of separation between different buying departments.  

You can: 

• Separate and report on procurement activities by department 
• Limit user access between departments 
• Conduct granular reporting by department 
• Search projects or contracts by department 

Here are three key benefits of managing the procurement activities of multiple departments in one place: 

1. Easy reporting 

Bonfire makes it easy to view and report on procurement activities across the organization. 

With all projects occurring through the Bonfire platform, organizations ensure complete and consistent audit reports for each individual project, as well as consistent data and file storage. 

Side-by-side comparison of different departments’ cycle times. 

Not only that, leaders can access Project Insights which provide department-specific metrics on: 

• • RFP cycle length
  • Number of proposals 
  • Savings generated

This can be used for quick and easy reporting, as well as to inform future process improvements or bottlenecks that need to be resolved. 

2. Process consistency and compliance

When procurement is decentralized, it’s virtually impossible to ensure that all teams are following the correct process, adhering to procurement policy, and using up-to-date files. 

This results in greater exposure to risk, as well as a confusing experience for vendors who might bid on multiple opportunities with different departments. 

When procurement is centralized in Bonfire, teams can use Project Templates to enforce consistency in project set-up, minimize errors, and ensure compliance checks and balances are in place. These standardized templates have the added bonus of helping new employees get up and running quickly. 

Examples of Project Templates in Bonfire. 

Procurement users in all departments can use templates every time they create a new project, ensuring their project is pre-set with: 

• Consistent language in project descriptions 
• Standard public files
• Standard internal files (for example, a go-live checklist or manual) 
• Fields for requested forms or documents that are required for each project 

Any updates made by the procurement team can be universally applied, taking away the guessing game of having multiple versions floating around the organization. 

3. Effective vendor management 

There’s nothing worse than realizing that a poorly-performing vendor has just been contracted to work with your organization again by a different department. 

When your vendor management is centralized across the organization, this doesn’t happen. You can maintain one vendor record across the organization, giving other teams full context into existing or past contracts and vendor performance. 

An example of a vendor record in Bonfire. 

Teams can also set up common vendor lists, saving time and providing efficiencies when running similar projects. 

Schedule a live demo to see how Bonfire could work for your procurement organization.

Bonfire is now available for purchase on the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR), enabling public agencies to directly procure Bonfire’s sourcing and contract management solution at preferred pricing. 

Over 250 public procurement teams already use the Bonfire platform to manage their bid and RFP process online, unlocking greater efficiency, reduced risk, and increased vendor competition. Now it’s even easier for Texas DIR customers to implement Bonfire and bring these benefits to your organization. 

Through Bonfire’s Cooperative Contract with the DIR, your team can: 

• Save money, by leveraging volume buying power to access discounted pricing
• Save time, by avoiding the lengthy RFx process and using the DIR’s competitively-bid contract
• Make a confident decision, with a well-vetted contract that is guaranteed to comply with state purchasing requirements.

“Through the DIR Cooperative Contract, we’ll be able to extend the availability of our procurement solutions to other state and civic agencies with immediate access and cost savings,” said Corry Flatt, CEO and Founder of Bonfire.

Learn more about the benefits of procurement digitization 

For Region 10 Education Service Centre, digitizing the procurement process on Bonfire has meant less time spent scanning and photocopying, reduced risk of human error from manual steps, and the ability to involve more evaluators in their decisions. 

The second instalment of our three-part blog series on the 2019 State of the RFP. 

It goes without saying that being disqualified from the RFP process is a bad outcome for vendors. After investing the time and money to prepare a response, it is discouraging to find out that you were not even considered for the RFP award. 

However, it’s not all on vendors! Disqualifications are also costly to buying organizations. Given that each additional vendor involved in an RFP increases the price spread between vendors by 3%, each disqualification represents a missed opportunity for savings.  

To better understand vendor disqualifications and how to avoid them, we looked at the data from over 6,000 public sector RFPs conducted through the Bonfire Strategic Sourcing platform. 

How often are vendor proposals disqualified? 

First, the good news: vendor disqualifications are on the decline. 

In 2014, nearly 15% of vendor submissions were disqualified. This number is down to 4% in 2018—a significant improvement. 

Why are vendor proposals disqualified? 

While greatly improved, a 4% disqualification rate is still troubling. To understand how to cut down on disqualifications—and make sure you’re receiving more qualified, complete vendor responses, let’s take a closer look at disqualification reasons: 

Many of these reasons may be outside the sphere of influence of the buying organization.  After all, sometimes vendors are simply unqualified or careless in their submissions. 

However, procurement teams should strive to improve the areas within their control which impact disqualifications: namely, by making the bid and RFP submission process as straightforward and error-proof as possible. 

Three keys to an error-proof vendor submission process 

Get the right vendors involved. 

Want fewer unqualified vendors? Instead, focus on getting your opportunities in front of more of the right vendors. This often means casting a wider net than your local newspaper or business bureau. 

By posting solicitations online, you make your opportunities discoverable to a global vendor pool, increasing the likelihood of relevant vendors finding your opportunities. You can also proactively invite vendors by commodity code, further expanding your solicitation’s reach. 

Eliminate incomplete submissions with structured online submission. 

Fewer and fewer projects are being disqualified due to missing documents (from 30% in 2014 to 13% in 2018). Increased digitization of the RFP submission process is a likely factor. An online submission process allows procurement teams to reduce the opportunity for human error on the part of vendors. 

Here’s how: 

• Checklist-style submission process provides a clear explanation of required documents 
• Structured document slots ensure that you cannot submit your proposal until all documents are uploaded. 
• Custom fields ensure you get only the data/documents you need (and none of the extra stuff!) 

By bringing the bid and RFP submission process online, you can eliminate incomplete submissions, saving countless hours of your time and ensuring that simple errors in the submission process aren’t causing any vendors to be taken out of the running.  

Ensure vendors never miss an addenda or clarification. 

The solicitation process is often iterative; new information might necessitate addenda or clarifications to be added to the solicitation, and Q&A periods might result in further information to help vendors prepare an accurate proposal. 

However, when managing an offline submission process, it’s very difficult to ensure that all interested vendors have received all the relevant information before making their submission. A missing addenda could easily cause inaccuracies or missing pieces in the final submission. 

Online submission platforms take away the guesswork for you and your vendors, by: 

• Providing all solicitation information, including addenda and Q&A in one, easily accessible online platform
• Automatically notifying vendors of any new documents or information added to the solicitation
• Reminding vendors of the upcoming submission deadline  

At the end of the day, these strategies will never result in the complete eradication of vendor disqualifications. After all, there’s always going to be vendors who choose to submit to projects far outside their capabilities, despite your best efforts. 

Nevertheless, every procurement professional can take steps to remove process-related pitfalls and obstacles standing in the way of successful vendor submissions—ultimately, leading to better options and better value for your organization.

Looking for more data-driven answers to the questions that keep public procurement teams up at night? 

Register for the 2019 State of the RFP webinar. 

By digitizing the bid and RFP process online with Bonfire, procurement teams gain efficiency and visibility into their procurement activities—but that’s not the end of the story! 

Procurement teams need to stay engaged with their procurement decisions after the contract is awarded, in order to: 

• Stay on top of key milestones and changes in active spend
• Monitor vendor performance 
• Plan future procurement activities 

Bonfire’s Contract and Performance Management module picks up where the bid and RFP process ends, allowing procurement teams to connect their sourcing event to the resulting contract and manage associated documents, agreements, and deadlines in the same centralized place. 

In our first instalment of the Bonfire Fall Webinar Series for Clients, we covered four ways that Bonfire’s Contract and Performance Management module makes it easy for teams to close the loop on their bid and RFP decisions. 

Watch the full webinar recording, or read a quick synopsis below.

1. View contract information and pull contract reports 

From the Bonfire Contract Management module, you can:  

• View contract information at-a-glance on a central dashboard
• Filter contracts to locate the information you need (e.g. filter by start date, contract value, commodity code, or custom fields you have pre-determined)
• Export custom reports to Excel

You also have the option to post contracts publicly on the Bonfire portal, with the ability to pick and choose what contract information is shared publicly. 

From the central repository, you can click into an individual contract record to see further details, including: 

• A visual timeline of the contract terms, including lead time, start date, and end date  
• Custom reminders to notify you of important milestones in the contract 
• Vendor documentation, including whether it is up-to-date or expired 
• The current vendor performance score, as determined by vendor performance surveys
• Contract details, term and change orders, and spend against contract 
• Vendor contact information 
• Contract documentation 

An example of a contract record in Bonfire.

Reporting is easy with all the information in one place and easily exportable. You can also give other users in your organization access to contract details (to view or edit), so all contract stakeholders are on the same page. 

2. Create templates for recurring contract agreements 

To save time on the set-up of recurring contracts, you can create templates which are pre-configured to include the default details, documents, and people for a given contract type. 

Setting up a project template in Bonfire.

Every time you create a new contract using this template, all the preconfigured information is there—saving time and ensuring consistency. 

3. Generate contracts from awarded proposals 

With the Contract and Performance Management module, you can instantly create a  contract record from a completed sourcing project in Bonfire. 

This streamlines contract creation by automatically carrying over relevant information from the sourcing project into the Contract Record, including: 

• Public files from the original sourcing project (e.g. the IFB and Addenda)
• The awarded vendor’s submission documents 

Setting up a new contract record from a completed sourcing project. 

From there, you can add the contractual agreement itself, include additional users from your organization who should be associated with the project, and add vendor contact information. 

It’s a simple and straightforward way to ensure continuity in your procurement activities. 

4. Manage Vendor Performance

The Contract and Performance Module also allows you to track vendor performance.

You can: 

• Configure surveys to measure vendor performance 
• Add respondents that will receive the survey 
• View survey results and frequency 
• Export survey results
• View trends from past surveys to see if there is improvement

An example of how survey results are displayed in a contract record.

Ongoing feedback on vendor performance is displayed in an intuitive format in the contract record. This is valuable information to help you forecast future procurement needs and bandwidth. 

For example, for vendors who are performing below your organization’s performance threshold, you can anticipate that you will likely be going back out to the market for that contract when it’s up for renewal. For vendors who are performing well and whose contact includes the option to renew, you can plan on renewing. 

With at-a-glance insight into vendors at risk, you can ensure that contracts with poor performance don’t slip through the cracks at renewal times—saving time and frustration for you and your end users.

Ready to learn more? See Bonfire’s Contract and Performance Module for yourself in a live demo. 

The first instalment of our three-part blog series on the 2019 State of the RFP. 

One of the biggest gripes about the public procurement process is that it takes too long. RFPs have a reputation for dragging on, which can cause problems for end users in delayed projects or lost budget. 

Internal departments want to get procurements done faster, so they can get on with their work. On the other hand, procurement teams want to be involved in the process earlier, so they can make sure all the boxes are checked without the last-minute crunch time. 

Both sides can agree on one thing: nobody wants the RFP process to take forever. 

How long do RFPs actually take, and what can public procurement teams do about it? To answer that, we investigated the data from over 6,000 public sector RFPs conducted through the Bonfire Strategic Sourcing platform.

How long is the average public sector RFP cycle time? 

We found that the average public sector RFP process took 57 days from posting to award. This does not include the additional time spent on pre-planning and requirements-gathering before the RFP is posted.  

Key Takeaways 

• The vast majority (78%) of RFP projects conducted through the Bonfire platform are wrapped up within 1- 2 months 
• Only 6% of RFP projects take over 4 months
• Only 3% of RFPs take over 6 months 

Taking a closer look, we can see that there is some variation between different types of public sector organizations: 

Key Takeaways: 

• Healthcare organizations have the longest RFP process at nearly 80 days on average
• K12 schools and higher education institutions had the shortest RFP process, at 51 days on average

Digitization yields time-savings 

With increasing pressure to get RFPs out the door, procurement teams are often racing against the clock as their default mode. This approach just isn’t sustainable: it introduces errors and risk for your organization, not to mention burnout and frustration for your staff. 

For many teams, digitization offers a solution. By bringing the RFP process online, teams can cut down on manual work and save time through process efficiencies—ultimately cutting RFP cycle times in half. 

Here’s a breakdown of common activities in the RFP process that can be streamlined by using an online platform to manage the RFP process:

An added benefit of digitization is clear visibility into the procurement process—including metrics such as RFP cycle times. Knowing where you stand, how long your RFPs take, and the impact you’re having helps with resource planning while also fuelling continuous improvement in your procurement function. 

Shorter RFP cycle times, better stakeholder relationships 

For public procurement to work, procurement teams and their internal departments need to get on the same page. This means that procurement teams must find a way to provide faster, more efficient service to their stakeholders, shedding procurement’s slow reputation once and for all. 

Whether your RFP process clocks in around the benchmark of 57 days or not, it’s worth investigating how long your RFPs take and where there are opportunities to shorten cycle times and create a win-win for your organization. 

Attend the State of the RFP webinar for more RFP benchmarks from public sector organizations. 

Procurement has often gotten a bad rap as solely a cost-control or compliance function. However, the team at Service New Brunswick (SNB) proves that procurement can have a meaningful impact beyond the bottom line. The crown corporation, which provides direct public services for the New Brunswick government, is leading the field in implementing value-based procurement, with big benefits for government and citizens.

Value-based procurement refers to a procurement approach which prioritizes overall value over cost. It is becoming the new standard in healthcare procurement, supporting the attainment of better health outcomes—and signalling a departure from healthcare’s sometimes-stringent focus on cost reduction. 

“We’re starting to have more conversations about value-based procurement, whereby the results are based on outcomes,” says Renée Laforest, vice president of SNB’s Finance and Strategic Procurement Division, speaking to Supply Chain Digital. “For example, when we purchase insulin pumps for diabetes clients, we’ll carefully look at the needs of our clients and ensure we meet their demands rather than automatically opting for the cheapest pump.” 

This approach is representative of a wider shift towards best value procurement across the public sector. The Governing Institute’s 2019 State Procurement report found that all but one of 28 states surveyed rank best value above lowest price. Data from over 200 public sector organizations on the Bonfire platform echoes the finding: the 2018 State of the RFP report found that the lowest-priced proposal won in only 10% of all RFPs, down from 16% from 2016. 

Collaboration = a prerequisite to value-based procurement 

Implementing a value-based procurement approach is not just a matter of changing the wording on an RFP. It requires greater coordination and collaboration with stakeholders right from the start. 

“We really consider our clients’ needs and requirements when procuring goods and services for them,“ notes Laforest. “It’s important that we have these in-depth conversations, particularly when it comes to services. If you’re buying a service you may have more complex needs and requirements, so this dialogue is critical.” 

Gone are the days of procurement professionals working in isolation from end users. In a value-based procurement model, it’s crucial to include end-users in the decision-making to better understand usability and the desired outcomes of the product or service. 

Less paperwork enables greater value-add 

The traditional procurement process, with its heavy reliance on paper and Excel, would be prohibitive to the type of collaboration required by value-based procurement. That’s why many teams leverage sourcing technology to automate the administration of the RFP process, thereby freeing procurement staff to focus on facilitating close collaboration in the decision-making process. 

Cloud-based eSourcing platforms also provides the advantage of one online location for stakeholders to come together to collaborate on the RFP evaluation. Service New Brunswick uses Bonfire Strategic Sourcing Platform to manage their RFP process. 

“Vendors use it to submit their proposals, and we do all our evaluations within the tool. It’s all automated, and all our stakeholders have found it beneficial,” says Laforest. 

RELATED: How sourcing software makes it easier to manage best value procurement

Procurement ascends as a strategic partner

The SNB procurement team’s success proves that procurement teams can be a crucial partner in accomplishing their organization’s goals. Leveraging procurement technology in intelligent ways helps teams break out of the cycle of rushing requisitions out the door, giving them the capacity and visibility to work strategically. 

Ultimately, this helps procurement shed the historic reputation as a penny-pincher and rule-enforcer, and instead become a partner in delivering outcomes. 

As Laforest puts it, “I want to really add value for our clients so that they don’t see procurement as a roadblock but rather see it as a value-adding function.”

For more on how procurement technology helps teams grow their strategic impact, read the GovTech Guide Understanding Procurement Technology and How to Use It. 

We’re delighted to congratulate 13 Bonfire clients who have been recognized with the National Procurement Institute’s Achievement of Excellence in Procurement® (AEP) award. 

 The AEP program encourages the development of excellence as well as continued organizational improvement. Awarded annually, this prestigious award recognizes procurement organizations that demonstrate innovation, professionalism, productivity, e-procurement, and leadership attributes. 

Congratulations to the following Bonfire clients for achieving this designation: 

• Alameda County Water District 
• Atlanta Public Schools
• City of Frisco
• City of Irvine
• City of McKinney
• Clark County School District 
• County of Ventura
• Denton County
• Eastern Municipal Water District 
• Golden Gate Bridge, Highway, and Transportation District 
• Gwinnett County Public Schools
• San Mateo County Transit District 
• University Health Network

 At Bonfire, we are proud to partner with procurement teams to advance the public procurement profession. Procurement teams play a crucial role in ensuring that public sector spending decisions are made fairly and maximize value for the communities they serve. The ripple effect of responsible and ethical procurement decisions extends beyond the direct end users, to the supplier community and wider society.

 We congratulate the AEP honourees on their dedication to continuous improvement and innovation of public procurement.

For more inspiring stories of public procurement’s impact, read the eBook Procurement Beyond Paperwork.  

Chasing down paperwork, copying and pasting data, and wrangling spreadsheets—these are the tasks that fill up many procurement professionals’ to-do list day after day. But what if it wasn’t like that?

Many teams are caught in a double bind: they’re so bogged down by their time-consuming, manual process, that they don’t have time to make improvements to their process.

Bringing the bid and RFP process online helps procurement teams break out of that cycle. The efficiency gains of an online process give procurement teams the capacity to invest in higher value initiatives that have a measurable impact on their bottom line.

“We’re now finding time to do other things, like actually make improvements into our office and procedures, versus being constantly bogged down with issuing solicitations and doing all that paperwork.”

Andrea Tena, Assistant Director of Procurement Services, San Antonio Independent School District

Read the full case study.

Here are five examples of areas where procurement can make a big impact when they’re freed from the administrative demands on a manual process:

1. Invest in vendor outreach

Everyone can agree that more vendors equal more competition, and more competition equals better value for your organization. However, many organizations are struggling to get enough vendors involved in their opportunities, with 25% of RFP projects receiving only one bid.

Vendor outreach is a great way for procurement teams to have an impact on their organization’s bottom line, while also boosting contractor effectiveness and increasing the involvement of small and minority-owned businesses. This might include activities such as:

• Creating a step-by-step guide or other resource to help vendors navigate the procurement process;
• Making improvements to the vendor registration and submission process;
• Thinking outside the box when it comes to advertising open opportunities (e.g. social media); or
• Conducting events such as reverse trade shows or targeted seminars to reach new vendors who haven’t been involved in procurement before.

2. Employ new procurement strategies

When you’re bogged down by manual tasks, there is no time to think about anything besides getting the requisition processed and the bid posted. However, with technology freeing up capacity, teams have time to step back and consider: what is the best vehicle and method to procure this good/service?

Public procurement teams are employing different procurement strategies to deliver results for their organization, including:

• Modular contracting, an approach which includes running multiple tightly-scoped procurements rather than an enormous everything-but-the-kitchen-sink RFP;
• Pilot projects, to test new software before a full implementation;
• Reverse auctions, to drive up to 20% cost savings;
• “Request for Ideas” or other open-ended tendering formats to collect innovative solutions to complex challenges.

3. Bring more spend under management

When the administrative cost of running an RFP is high, it makes sense to run as few as possible. However, when the administrative burden is reduced, procurement teams have time to examine other organizational spending decisions that may fall outside of formal thresholds but could benefit from a competitive bidding process.

4. Identify opportunities for consolidation and cost savings

Digitizing the procurement process gives procurement teams the time and visibility to take a 360 degree view of their sourcing activities. For Pinal County’s procurement team, this has allowed them to consolidate spend and drive significant cost-savings.

“Bonfire is freeing us up to have the time to look countywide. Somebody in Public Works has no idea what the County Attorney’s office is doing, but as a purchasing department, we see everything,” explains Lorina Gillette, Senior Procurement Officer, Pinal County. “Now that we’re not having to be so reactive, we’re able to say, ‘Hey, they’re right across the parking lot, and they’re having the same issue. Let’s fix this for both of them.’”

In one particular example, they received a requisition for a new printer. They took the time to analyze the printing spend for the whole county, conduct research with vendors, and develop a scope of work. The result was a managed print services RFP that covered the entire county, saving approximately $200,000 a year—about 40% of their previous maintenance costs for printers.

5. Set up a process for actively managing contracts  

For many teams using a procurement manual process, contracts are filed away ‘out of sight, out of mind.’ As a result, teams are missing a key piece of the puzzle when it comes to the value that procurement provides. With additional capacity and straightforward contract management tools, procurement teams can refine a robust process to ensure that the contracted work is delivered and a feedback loop is established to inform future sourcing decisions.

For more real-life examples of public procurement’s strategic impact, read the eBook Procurement Beyond Paperwork.  

There’s only one silver lining to the end of summer, and that’s the ramp-up of procurement conference season! Procurement conferences are a unique opportunity to connect with peers across the country and learn a lot in a short time. 

Whether you’re making the trip to the annual NIGP Forum next week or heading to a conference closer to home this fall, here are our top tips for making the most of your time away from the office: 

Before the procurement conference

A productive conference experience starts before the registration booth opens, says Bonfire field marketing specialist Kait Stratis, who is responsible for managing Bonfire’s attendance at upwards of 30 procurement events per year. 

“Understand why you’re attending in the first place. Set a goal for what you’re trying to learn and what problems you’re trying to solve,” she advises. 

With that in mind, you can loosely plan out your speaker sessions and expo visits to ensure you are getting what you came for. 

Once you get there, don’t be afraid to deviate from the schedule as new opportunities arise. Taking some time to think about your goals in advance allows you to adjust on the fly, while ensuring you don’t miss the must-do sessions. 

“Conferences are a great opportunity to explore,” says Kait. “Keep an open mind to new speakers and vendors, hear them out, and understand what they’re trying to do for the procurement world.” 

At the conference 

Making new connections in public procurement

Meeting other procurement folk is one of the biggest benefits of attending a procurement conference. Especially in the siloed world of public procurement, it can be a game-changer to have a trusted group of peers to call up with questions or swap templates. 

However, approaching strangers to make these connections can be daunting. 

Kait has some advice. “Getting involved by asking questions in session Q&As is a great way to naturally start a conversation,” she says. Take the opportunity to chat with speakers after the session as well—after all, they’re at the front of the room for a reason and likely have more useful knowledge to share than could fit in their 60-minute presentation.   

Keynotes and speaker sessions provide common ground that serves as a jumping-off point to connect with fellow audience members, too. 

Beyond that, it’s sometimes just a matter of breaking the ice. 

“Just say hello,” Kait says.  “I have never seen an instance at a professional conference where someone starts a conversation and regrets it.” 

See also: Networking Tips for Talking to New People

Making the most of keynotes and speaker sessions

The biggest challenge at a conference is information overload. With multiple hours or even days of learning, it can be a blur. 

Taking notes is key. Veteran procurement writer Jason Busch has a tip to force yourself not to slack on the note-taking: prepare a short presentation on the material for the day you get back. Whether you ever use the presentation or not, this forces you to pay attention, synthesize, and relate the information back to your organization. And when it comes time to share what you’ve learned with colleagues back home, you’re already prepared. 

It’s also a good practice to set aside some time at the end of each day to reflect and note the highlights. 

“Take five minutes to debrief each night and reflect: what was it today that grabbed me? What did I learn?” advises Kait. 

Will we see you at NIGP? 

If digitization of your procurement function is one of the topics you’re hoping to explore at NIGP, don’t miss the session “Procurement Transformation: Modular Tools for Faster Results” on Tuesday at 1:45 pm. Omar Salaymeh, Bonfire’s Director of Client Success, will host a panel with procurement officials from Ventura County and Region 10 Education Service Centre to discuss how they led digital transformation efforts in their organizations. 

For more information about Bonfire’s eSourcing software for public procurement teams, book a meeting with our team. 

Above all, enjoy the opportunity to step outside the hustle and bustle of your day job to improve your procurement process and build your career! 

Behind the scenes at many public agencies, you’ll find technology that lags way behind the tech that even the average citizen carries around in their pocket.

For example, the master file at the Internal Revenue Service runs on code from the 1950s. The Baltimore police department relies on a 20-year old system for tracking and reporting crime. The San Francisco property tax assessment system runs on computers from the age of the floppy disk. 

These are not just isolated cases: in fact, seventy percent of the government’s IT budget is spent on maintaining legacy systems. 

The IT modernization challenge

Obsolete technology is expensive and time-consuming to maintain (to the tune of $13.6 million per year in the case of the aforementioned IRS system). Still, public agencies struggle to get the budget for modernization—and when they do, the IT procurement process is plagued by challenges. 

Obstacles to effective IT modernization include: 

• Outdated regulations that are out-of-step with the market 
• Long and burdensome procurement processes
• The complexity of decisions with many stakeholders

Given the rapid pace of technology change, governments must modernize or risk falling further behind. Key to this modernization is a more flexible IT procurement approach that can adapt to a quickly-changing technology marketplace. 

Making government IT procurement accessible for smaller players

The traditional approach to IT procurement is to put out a lengthy RFP that provides a list of specifications and asks vendors to demonstrate how they meet those specifications. 

However, this approach is time-intensive and complicated to navigate for vendors—meaning large incumbents often have a leg up over small companies. Ironically, when it comes to advanced technology, it is frequently these small companies who have the agility to refine a market-leading offering. 

For governments to engage more innovative small and medium-sized businesses, they need to channel some of that agility into their own procurement process. 

The agile approach can be implemented in different ways: 

• “Request for Ideas’ or other open-ended tendering formats to learn about a new market
• Structuring the RFP around the problem to be solved, rather than an exhaustive list of specs 
• Including pilots or iterative stages in the contracting process 

Flexibility through cloud-based software

The next significant step is leaving behind government’s traditional preference for on-premise software in favour of a cloud-based model of service.

This recommendation emerged from the 2018 White House Report on Federal IT Modernization, which called for an aggressive migration from legacy systems towards commercial cloud services. Why? Greater innovation, decreased costs, and dramatic service improvements for both agencies and citizens.  

The strain of keeping legacy systems updated and protecting against security threats has become untenable. In contrast, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) tools: 

• Require no infrastructure or dedicated on-site personnel
• Can be implemented quickly and right-sized to agency need
• Can be kept up-to-date with ongoing releases
• Can react quickly to evolving cybersecurity threats 

These features make it the more secure and cost-effective choice. 

The White House Report outlined various action items—from guidelines to policy changes— to enable agencies to more easily acquire and adopt Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) tools. But the authors also noted that it’s not all about policy and procedure.

 “An active shift in the mindset of agency leadership, mission owners, IT practitioners, and oversight bodies” will be required to realize the mandate of modernization. 

Ultimately, vendors deserve an equal playing field, citizens deserve modern services, and public agencies deserve to be empowered with the best technology for the job. By changing the approach to IT procurement, everyone can benefit from technology innovation. 

For more, read the GovTech eBook: Understanding Procurement Technology and How to Use It