As supply chain issues continue to impact public agencies around the globe, many are turning to diverse small businesses to fill the gap. For Amanda Burton, Contract Buyer at Utah Transit Authority, for example, the pandemic “was a big eye-opener… It showed me personally how important vendor relationships are. Suddenly those mom and pop shops that I kind of overlooked a little bit were my main go-tos.”

Exploring new vendor relationships has partly been driven by necessity. But there’s a silver lining too. More and more agencies are realizing that sourcing goods and services from diverse vendors—including historically disadvantaged or marginalized groups and small businesses—gives them a big advantage. First, let’s look at why vendor diversity is getting increased attention right now. Then we’ll explore some simple steps you can take to make your procurement process more equitable.

More public agencies are prioritizing vendor diversity

More than a buzzword, social procurement has become a top priority for many organizations in recent years. The Biden administration has said it will “support small businesses and tackle inequities in the federal contracting system” by tripling federal contracting goals for small, disadvantaged business enterprises (DBEs) by 2025. And recent Bonfire data reveals public agencies across North America are making a greater effort than ever to build diversity and equity in their vendor pools. 

Our 2021 State of Public Sourcing report shows at least 10% of Bonfire users are already tracking vendor diversity. That number has doubled over the past year—and it’s likely to keep increasing. Tracking vendor diversity helps buyers see how well their efforts to engage more diverse suppliers are working. In fact, as new policies and government funding emerge to promote supplier diversity, this type of reporting is becoming a requirement. eProcurement platforms like Bonfire allow you to set registration fields to easily collect data around a vendor’s status (e.g., DBE, small business, non-profit, and more). That information helps buyers improve strategic decision making and comply with social procurement policies.

Agencies that engage diverse vendors aren’t only using their purchasing power to promote social progress; they also benefit in tangible ways from driving increased competition against large, well-established players. That approach promotes best-value purchasing that supports the social, economic, and cultural best interests of the community.

Breaking down barriers to entry

Organizations that want to prioritize vendor diversity need to do more than just talk the talk. They also need to actively dismantle barriers that may be preventing historically disadvantaged and marginalized small businesses from participating in bids. Here are some of the top ways your agency can foster equity in your vendor selection process.

Invite more vendors to the table

Bonfire data shows 66% of proposals come from vendors that have been invited by the purchasing organization. If you want more diverse suppliers to bid on your projects, you need to get your opportunities in front of them through vendor invitations. Using Bonfire, you can maintain an active list of vendors with DBE status and invite them to bid on projects in a single click. More invitations means more competition in the market, including diverse vendors, local small businesses, and fresh options that can improve outcomes for your organization. 

Bring DBEs on as subcontractors

Inviting DBEs to be subcontractors also has many advantages. eProcurement systems like Bonfire allow suppliers to flag themselves as subcontractors with the click of a button so agencies, as well as prime contractors, can easily view and bring DBE subcontractors on board.

Rethink your evaluation criteria

It’s important to consider how your scoring criteria might be reinforcing barriers that make it harder for DBEs to compete. By rethinking your evaluations, you can promote greater diversity in your vendor pool and relationships. For example, Bonfire’s evaluation features let you create scorecards that reflect DBE status, including custom scoring fields that help promote DBE representation in your vendor selections.

Building resilience through diversity

Agencies that promote equity in their vendor selection process and build greater diversity in their vendor pools will be better positioned to meet the challenges of an uncertain post-pandemic world. Having diverse vendor relationships puts procurement teams at a significant advantage when it comes to navigating future supply chain shortages, driving increased supplier competition, and finding best-value solutions that promote social, cultural, and economic good.

For more insights into how your peers are navigating supplier diversity and other priorities this year, download your free copy of the Bonfire 2021 State of Public Sourcing Report. 

Did you catch this year’s NIGP Virtual Forum? It was an action-packed conference full of forward-thinking ideas, latest trends, and actionable insights for public sector procurement professionals.

If you missed our session on “Procurement Priorities in a Post-COVID World,” this blog post is for you! We’ve got all the highlights, including hot takes from our expert panelists on how the pandemic has shaped procurement processes, strategies, challenges, and next steps in 2021.

The stories behind the data

During the session, Bonfire’s own Rachel Friesen, Director of Client Experience, sat down with our three featured public procurement experts:

• Michael Brinton, Assistant Director, Contract Compliance Manager, Metropolitan Transportation Commission
• Jennifer Frates, Chief Procurement Officer, Barnstable County
• Omar Salaymeh, CEO, Bonfire

Each panelist shared their own experiences to illuminate some of the top findings from our report on the 2021 State of Public Sourcing. The report looks at Bonfire client data from 2019 to 2021 to measure how public procurement opportunities and challenges have shifted as the pandemic has evolved—impacting everything from project volumes to eProcurement adoption. Here’s a snapshot of some of the highlights from their conversation.

How did the pandemic affect your relationships with suppliers?

Our 2021 report revealed an increase in overall project volumes and a resurgence of RFPs as compared to 2020 numbers. With more projects on the go and many agencies switching to fully digital processes, we asked our panelists how the changes have impacted the dynamic between vendors and their procurement team.

Jennifer: I think we were just able to work a lot more efficiently. Previously when we had in-person bids, it was a lot more time consuming. Vendors were always worried if their bid was going to make it on time… And then, when the pandemic hit, vendors reached out to me personally and were just so grateful that [we had switched to eProcurement] and they never had to put something in the mail again… I got a lot of positive feedback from that.

Michael: As far as the move to eProcurement, Bonfire was really one of our first transitions to that. We had been starting this process, pre-pandemic, for years. And luckily we were finished turning everything on… before the pandemic. What I’ve seen is that, actually, we’ve been able to work more closely. It’s more cooperative… It reduces costs for our vendors. They don’t have to travel, we’re not doing hard copies of proposals. So it’s actually improved and allowed us to get more firms to participate and compete because there’s less of a barrier to entry.

How has procurement’s role shifted in 2021?

With the pandemic catalyzing digitization, many public procurement teams were able to automate manual tasks, such as tracking down physical signatures or managing evaluations in Excel. With fewer administrative responsibilities, it follows that teams have greater capacity for higher level thinking. Here’s what Bonfire’s CEO, Omar Salaymeh, had to say on that topic.

Omar: We’ve heard this over and over again that procurement teams wanted to modernize, but they couldn’t. And now [with the pandemic] they had a really good reason to shift. Those platforms end up saving hours and hours of time…. And what do you end up doing with the extra time? What we hear from our clients is now you have time for market research, you have time for scoping and drafting better RFPs, negotiation, diversity initiatives. All of that allows you the headspace and the opportunity to start tackling these larger projects instead of doing things that, quite frankly, computers are really good at doing.

Has remote work impacted your team’s ability to be audit-ready?

The move to digital platforms and processes can carry a steep learning curve—but, for procurement, there’s no “grace period,” especially when it comes to compliance. Here’s how our panelists are tackling the challenge of upholding transparency in a digital world.

Michael: From an audit perspective, where it becomes challenging is when you have multiple platforms that you use… You also have to be aware of trying to cut corners or skip steps. Digitally it can be easy to move around or skip something that could impact the audit trail… I‘m not as worried about it because we’ve been going to a transition to digital working for the past five years or so… But I can definitely see it, especially for an agency that was relying on paper and had to switch really quickly to digital. Having to have records retention tools in place, it really is challenging.

Omar: More and more organizations are using best-in-breed technology to do what they want to do really quickly as opposed to introducing a behemoth software solution that does it all and takes three years to implement and nobody likes to use. I think that nimble approach is definitely the way to go… It also leads to quick results that you can see right away.

How are you adjusting to increased demand and stakeholders?

As our 2021 State of Public Sourcing report revealed, the number of stakeholders involved in projects has risen 49.3% between 2019 and 2021. With more hands on deck, we asked our panelists how their procurement teams are facilitating collaboration and building consensus.

Jennifer: We’ve been able to add a lot more stakeholders… We do a lot of cooperative bids for the 15 towns in the County that may not have dedicated procurement folks. They were able to sign onto Bonfire and see the projects firsthand. So I definitely had a lot more stakeholder involvement and, even internally, with all of my departments.

Michael: We’ve increased our staff size. Using the tools between Bonfire and another system that we use, we’ve been able to coordinate making sure we’re able to monitor workload, shifting workload around so that no one’s completely overburdened. One of the things that we’ve also done is… we’re a regional agency, so we cover nine counties. And within those nine counties, I think there’s 116 jurisdictions. And they’ve been much more challenged through this pandemic than my agency has. So we’ve made an effort to make sure our procurements are available for cooperative use or piggy-backing by other jurisdictions within our agency… It’s not necessarily our volume, but we’ve been trying to help our jurisdictions and our regional partners handle their own resource versus volume challenges.

Ready to put your foot on the gas pedal?

Public procurement teams are racing ahead to a brave, new post-pandemic world. And we’ve got all the insights you need to reprioritize and plan your strategy—now and into the future. Get your copy of the 2021 State of Public Sourcing report to learn more. Watch the full panel session on our website.

While empathy may not be a required qualification on many procurement job postings, it’s one of the most important qualities of a successful procurement professional. When agencies need to make big decisions about how to spend taxpayer dollars effectively, procurement professionals are at the center of it all, putting themselves in their colleagues’ shoes, connecting diverse stakeholders, and helping them agree on the best possible solutions. 

It’s a position Peggy Ferrin has been in countless times, and she joins us on the Inside Public Procurement podcast to talk about why empathy is her procurement superpower. As Procurement Coordinator for the Town of Paradise Valley, Peggy brings over 20 years of experience working in purchasing for school districts, cities, and hospitals. During that time, she’s dealt with her fair share of resistance to procurement policies. On the podcast, she shares her tried-and-true strategies for building trust-based relationships and promoting compliance.

Keep reading for all the highlights from our conversation and tune into the full episode on our website or wherever you get your podcasts!

Buy-in starts with trust

In public procurement, regulations play a central role in maintaining a community’s trust. “I think in my view, procurement basically is compliance. I mean, that’s what we do and that’s the way we think,” says Peggy. And, when it comes right down to it, she says it’s her job “to keep the government officials and all the employees out of the newspaper.”

Unfortunately, many internal clients don’t realize just how important compliance is to keeping the organization running—particularly when it comes to securing funding and managing public opinion. As a result, educating colleagues and overcoming their resistance is something Peggy has learned to do well over her 20-year career. 

So what’s her proven method for winning over even the most resistant colleagues? Building a personal relationship first. “I had the mentality that I would just meet with all my user groups at least once a week, once every couple of weeks, depending on their schedule. And I would sit down and talk to them… on a personal level.”

That approach allowed her to gain clients’ trust and encourage buy-in, ensuring projects achieve the most favourable outcomes possible.

Beyond black-and-white rules

Approaching procurement from a relationship-building perspective isn’t just about winning trust. It also lets Peggy see things from internal clients’ perspectives. The big takeaway? Procurement doesn’t have to be as rigid as she first thought when she entered the profession years ago.

“I used to look at it that procurement was just black and white and all these rules, but there’s so much gray in between. It’s important for us to look at it through the lens of our user groups. You know, what is it that they want? What’s the end goal? What are they trying to accomplish? Then in procurement, how can I help them do that?”

That’s where empathy comes in. Connecting on a personal level helps procurement professionals reach a deeper understanding of internal clients’ challenges, pain points, needs, and goals. Peggy says starting a project from that perspective drives the best results.

“I always try to do that when I work with user groups. What is it they’re looking at? What are their obstacles that they’re trying to get over? Just try to help them, and now they call me in advance, which is procurement’s best way to have it, right? That’s our dream is that they call us in advance before they get started.”

The difference eProcurement makes

A third key ingredient to fostering better collaboration and consensus, in Peggy’s experience, is eProcurement. While some organizations struggle to get agency-wide buy-in for large-scale digital transformation, Peggy is proud to say that wasn’t the case in Paradise Valley, even though “some of our employees have been there 10, 20, and we have quite a few that have been there 30 years.”

eProcurement has helped the team to build trust and transparency around the procurement process—especially bid scoring. And having access to a digital platform during the pandemic allowed them to continue operations remotely without interruption. Now that they can complete procurements of all shapes and sizes in one central place from the beginning, Peggy has noticed an improvement in the way the whole agency works and communicates. “It’s so easy to pull [a bid] into the contract module and then set those reminders right from the beginning, put my stakeholders in there so they get those emails as well.”

And that’s not all… 

Don’t miss the full episode for more advice and firsthand procurement stories from Peggy on the importance of empathy, negotiation, and relationship-building in public procurement.

Hungry for more tips, insights, and inspiration you can use to level up your procurement strategy? Head over to our website, or find Inside Public Procurement on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts!

Creating an RFP isn’t always straightforward—especially when you’re dealing with new or unfamiliar projects. Even if you find a few general templates from Google searches, it’s hard to know if these examples will get you the outcomes you’re looking for.

Just like us, you’ve probably thought that building RFPs should be easier. After all, if you’re looking at creating a new project for your agency, chances are that others have already been through the same process. 

We’re excited to announce that building new RFPs just got easier with the all-new Bonfire Community Projects—a searchable collection of tens of thousands of public projects within our network of 500+ agencies across North America.

Introducing Bonfire Community Projects

We’ve designed Community Projects to give you instant access to best-in-class projects from across procurement, including access to all supporting bid documents. We also knew that general search engines were, well, too general—so we’ve given you search tools that let you easily filter by location, organization, project type, and more. 

Here’s how Community Projects can give you a head start on building quality, strategic RFPs for your next project:

Use best-in-class project examples to jump-start your next RFP

Draw from tens of thousands of successful projects run by 500+ agencies across North America, so you can create quality, strategic RFPs using established practices from your peers.

Search and filter results to find the right project template, fast

Easily search through projects using a tool designed specifically for public procurement, without generic search results getting in the way. Filter by project type, location, organization, and more, giving you instant access to the most relevant projects for your next RFP.

Structure the best RFPs by drawing from supporting bid documents

Save time and ensure success by leveraging bid documents from other procurement professionals.

Join a community that grows by thousands of projects every month

Learn from one of the industry’s largest communities of procurement professionals, with over 500 public agencies across North America. With thousands of projects added monthly, you can rest assured that you’re accessing the most relevant, trending projects from your peers. 

Never start an RFP from Scratch Again

As more demands are placed on procurement teams every year, tools need to adapt and provide faster, easier ways to keep up. With Community Projects, you can now leverage a huge collection of projects the next time you’ve got to start a new RFP. 

There’s also more to Community Projects than just helping you speed through your next project. Keeping an eye on your peer’s projects is a great way to spot industry trends and best practices. Our search engine intelligently highlights fresh and trending projects based on the activity of your peers, so check in often and stay in the know for best practices, no matter the project.

Not yet a Bonfire customer? No problem!

We know that collaboration makes procurement better for everyone, whether or not you’re a Bonfire customer. To that end, we’re also releasing a completely free version of Community Projects, open to every professional in procurement. This free version—Bonfire Open Access Community Projects—gives you all the same search features for public projects in the Bonfire community.

Learn more about our free version here, and be sure to get on the list for early access when it arrives later this fall.

Over the past 19 months, public procurement teams have been challenged to get creative with how and where they source goods and services. For better or worse, supply chain disruption, economic instability, and skyrocketing demand have all been drivers of innovation. But, according to Darren Tompkins, that’s nothing new. Procurement has always been an arena where creativity is essential to success.

In this episode of Inside Public Procurement, the Manager of Purchasing for the City of Kelowna sits down with us to share valuable insights from 20 years of experience in K-12 and municipal purchasing. We chat with Darren about what creativity in public procurement looks like and why it doesn’t have to come at the cost of compliance.

Keep reading for all the highlights from our conversation—and discover even more in the full episode. You can find it on our website or wherever you get your podcasts.

Why public procurement needs creativity

Public procurement teams tend to focus on driving efficiency and standardization to manage the many projects, stakeholders, and vendors they’re juggling at any given time. But Darren says falling back on standard processes isn’t always optimal. “There are times where, if you’re trying to fit that square peg into a round hole, you need to be a little more creative.”

That’s where thinking outside the box becomes essential—because there will always be procurement challenges that demand new and novel approaches. So what do those approaches look like? Here are four big ideas Darren shares on the podcast.

1. Rethink repetitive tasks

In certain purchasing areas, there’s a much higher transaction volume and that “takes up effort and time.” In those instances, “you really want to get your buying team using their critical thinking skills and adding value to everything they touch.”

Darren suggests automating as many low-value transactional activities as possible, such as using P-Cards or standing orders with certain suppliers for low-value repetitive spend. “And then really get your buyers immersed in the files they’re working on… getting good long-term agreements with suppliers to provide what we’re looking for and leveraging their expertise.”

2. Tailor the selection process to your project

Few procurements are suited to a one-size-fits-all selection process. Darren says, although it’s often the go-to approach, using a price-based tender isn’t always ideal—for example, when buying professional services. “When you’re buying knowledge, when you’re buying expertise… you really want to engage with the service provider that can provide the best outcomes for you.”

Using a quality-based, rather than price-based, approach in those instances allows Darren’s team to make sure they’re always finding the best vendor for the specific goals they need to achieve. Ultimately, that’s the best way to use taxpayer dollars efficiently.

3. Explore creative methods—within limits

Every procurement professional knows that public agencies in Canada are bound to strict purchasing regulations. And Darren says encouraging creative thinking on your team doesn’t mean throwing out the rule book. “I think one of those things that we need to satisfy is transparency in our process… Within a procurement, you can do a lot of things, but you need to say what you’re going to do ahead of time and it needs to be in your document.”

Creativity within limits—and with full transparency—isn’t just important for process improvement, it’s also critical for your team’s career development. Darren recommends taking low-risk opportunities to experiment with pilot projects as a way to try new approaches and get everyone in the organization on board.

4. Reframe the RFP ask

Another area where Darren says teams can think more creatively is the RFP. “At times, we don’t necessarily have the internal expertise to describe, in fact, what we want to buy or what we need to address a problem. And so, in an RFP, I encourage our teams to think about presenting a problem rather than presenting the solution.”

“Let the marketplace, which are the experts in this area present a solution to you, present what you’d like to see as an outcome, or present the problem and ask them for answers… And that’s really where an RFP can produce innovative solutions.”

Get ready to be inspired

The greatest opportunity that creative thinking gives procurement professionals, Darren says, is the ability to make a difference. “If you’re not feeling as though you’re making a difference right now, find a space where you can be an influencer and a champion.” 

Inspiring, right? There’s lots more where that came from on the full episode of Inside Public Procurement. We cover topics like social procurement, bringing more value to your organization, and strengthening relationships with vendors through the power of feedback. So be sure to bring us along on your next lunch break or evening commute.

Hungry for more tips, insights, and inspiration you can use to level up your procurement strategy? Head over to our website, or find Inside Public Procurement on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts!

When we talk about innovation in procurement, we tend to equate it with digital transformation or next-gen technology. And that’s certainly not wrong. It’s a big part of what we do here at Bonfire. But innovative procurement can actually take a lot of different forms. Just ask Carol Izzio, our special guest on the latest episode of Inside Public Procurement.

With over 15 years of experience in the field, Carol is the Director of Procurement at Sheridan College. An expert in the higher ed realm, she’s also worked in healthcare purchasing in both the public and private sectors.

According to Carol, the key to innovation is being creative “about the way you procure. And be[ing] innovative about the tools that you’re using to help you procure.” She joins us on our latest episode to talk about one surprisingly simple—but game-changing—approach to innovation: collaboration.

Here are some of our favorite lightbulb moments from the conversation. Have a read and be sure to check out the full episode on our website or wherever you get your podcasts!

Procurement’s bad habit of reinventing the wheel

“In the past, public procurement has always been [done in] silos,” Carol says. Individual institutions would create their own procurement policies and processes, “so, we’ve been known to reinvent the wheel.”

In recent years, and especially with the pressure placed on procurement teams during the pandemic, it’s been increasingly important for agencies to collaborate. Carol explains why it’s so important to start sharing resources, tools, templates, and best practices right now.

The need for collaboration between agencies

The concept of pooling resources and working together for mutual benefit has been around for probably as long as humans have. And despite the fact that it’s not new, it’s still key to innovation and, in particular, optimizing procurement.

“Optimization is really about using each other. So, we have a ton of professional procurement people out there. There are a ton of procurement organizations out there.” Rather than starting from scratch on a new procurement policy, for example, Carol says the best way to optimize time and resources is by reaching out to other institutions.

She sees duplication of effort happening all too often and, in our latest episode, she shares her tips for tapping into existing networks and resources.

Maximizing value with sustainable procurement

In the second half of our conversation, we switch gears to chat about another hot topic in procurement right now: sustainability. Specifically, how can procurement teams make the most of taxpayer dollars through sustainable procurement policies?

For Carol and her colleagues at Sheridan, sustainable procurement “isn’t just about clean purchasing” or reducing the organization’s environmental impact. It’s procurement that “achieves social, economical, environmental, and financial goals.”

When planning their approach to sustainable procurement, Carol says her team focused on shifting priorities to drive those goals. “Let’s see what we can do about keeping our communities healthy, people in jobs, making sure that we can support people who have smaller companies, or who want to start entrepreneur groups, and let’s try and support them.”

More aha moments on the podcast

Catch the full episode for more advice and firsthand experience from Carol on how to promote collaboration, optimize procurement, and approach conversations around sustainability policies in your agency.

Hungry for more tips, insights, and inspiration you can use to level up your procurement strategy? Head over to our website, or find Inside Public Procurement on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts!

From the moment she stepped into her role as Chief Procurement Officer, Jennifer Frates knew the procurement process had to change if Barnstable County was going to improve collaboration and deliver more value for stakeholders now and into the future.

With 15 towns and a one-person procurement team managing cooperative bids for all of them, the regional government for Cape Cod, Massachusetts relies on strong collaboration in its procurement process. Achieving that through workflows involving hardcopy submissions, in-person bidding, manual Excel tabulations, and email wasn’t only labor-intensive. It was also preventing the county from reaching more vendors, making data-driven decisions, and finding innovative new purchasing solutions.

Having come from an organization that used Bonfire for eProcurement, Jennifer says, “I knew right away – the technology exists, we can use this software to be able to efficiently have the same exact process that we have now and be able to do it quicker, faster and with a lot less administrative work on my part.” 

Experience had shown her that switching from paper-based to eProcurement would be the best way to help the towns deliver more cost-effective, on-budget solutions and collaborate more effectively — and Bonfire fit the bill.

15 towns working together

Barnstable County has a population of over 212,000 across its 15 towns. Since none of the towns have dedicated procurement departments, they often pursue cooperative bids coordinated through the county to make the most of their resources and level up their purchasing power.

In order to do that, the towns need to be able to work together effectively and efficiently to get projects off the ground, a task single-handedly managed by Jennifer, who is responsible for all the bidding, contracting, and purchasing for the internal department and county-wide cooperative bids. That includes RFPs for critical projects such as road materials, school supplies, fuel, professional services, and more.

Paper-based procurement slows progress

As if coordinating cooperative bids for 15 towns wasn’t already complex enough, Barnstable’s manual processes made every project even more difficult and procurement was up against some significant challenges, including:

• Labor-intensive clerical processes that were creating inefficiencies and unnecessary administrative overhead
• No centralized way to coordinate communication and collaborative processes between stakeholders, vendors and evaluators across multiple towns
• A lack of data analysis and insights that limited strategic planning and decision-making
• A small pool of vendors with no easy way to extend their reach, which meant the county and towns weren’t getting the best possible value for citizens

Bonfire keeps all stakeholders on the same (virtual) page

Switching to Bonfire’s state-of-the-art eProcurement software has saved Barnstable County countless hours of administrative effort, expanded their vendor pool, and improved pricing and value, enabling them to divert more funds to critical projects that make all the towns better.

Everything in one central location

Providing a centralized platform for seamless collaboration, Bonfire allows all stakeholders, including vendors, internal departments, and evaluators, to see all the information they need in one convenient place with automated reminders and notifications so they never miss a step or deadline. It’s simple for everyone to see where others are in the process and easily submit and view documents, comments, and feedback.

Time-saving process automation

Like many agencies struggling with a shrinking budget, adding more team members to the procurement department simply wasn’t an option for Barnstable. Bonfire eProcurement has filled that gap and delivered more value with less budget, taking the administrative burden off Jennifer’s shoulders — almost like a virtual extension of her team.

Faster, data-driven decision-making

Automating previously manual tasks has freed up time for higher-level strategic planning and decisions backed by data-driven insights from Bonfire. Not only do digitized processes allow Barnstable to complete projects faster, they also translate to more competitive bids, higher quality submissions, and direct cost savings. During COVID-19, Barnstable was able to use Bonfire to complete time-sensitive projects quickly and easily, including procuring COVID testing equipment and commissioning a study on the pandemic’s economic impact.

A future of collective success

Every day Jennifer sees the role collaboration plays in getting the most value for taxpayer dollars. “A lot of budgets are getting slashed and people are trying to find new opportunities to save,” she says. “This is where it becomes much more important for public procurement officials to collaborate.” For Barnstable’s towns, which rely on cooperative bids to stay on budget, Bonfire has drastically improved their ability to collaborate for better, faster results.

If your agency uses paper-based procurement processes, some of the challenges Barnstable County was facing probably sound familiar. Discover more about how Bonfire instantly expanded their procurement capacity with Bonfire by watching the full video client story.

Have you noticed a shift? Public agencies are getting back to business in 2021 and procurement teams are feeling the pressure to post more bids and complete more projects this year. But COVID-19 has changed the world of procurement—possibly forever. What does that mean for how public procurement departments work, collaborate, and plan for the future?

Our 2021 State of Public Sourcing report is here to answer those questions and more with a deep dive into the Bonfire database. We analyze the key trends and challenges that are driving procurement priorities and strategies right now. Our analysis examines data from approximately 400 U.S. public organizations that use the Bonfire eProcurement platform, comparing metrics from 2019, 2020, and 2021 over a 6-month period (January through June) of each year.

Keep reading for the top three insights from this year’s analysis and be sure to download the full report for findings and guidance you can use to inform your procurement strategy.

1. Projects and RFPs are back on track

If you work in public procurement, you don’t need us to tell you that project and RFP counts plummeted from 2019 to 2020. The pandemic forced you to put many plans on pause to address emerging priorities like sourcing PPE and setting up COVID-19 testing sites.

The good news? In 2021, we’re seeing a resurgence of projects verging on pre-pandemic numbers. This can be explained by a number of significant shifts, including a mass return to the office, continued stimulus funding from the American Rescue Plan, and Biden’s proposed $1.2 trillion infrastructure package—all of which are making it possible to pursue more complex projects.

Here are some of the key project-related trends that are impacting public agencies right now:

• In the first six months of 2019, organizations were putting out an average of 11 RFP projects. That number dropped to 8 by 2020, but bounced back up to 11 within just six months.
• In 2020, healthcare was the only sector to see an increase in projects—and it was significant, with project counts skyrocketing 117%.
• Looking into 2021, K-12 and Special Districts both have higher project counts than before the pandemic, increasing by 49% and 13% respectively.

2. eProcurement adoption continues to rise

With projects and RFPs bouncing back to pre-pandemic numbers, it’s worth asking: are agencies going back to pre-pandemic ways of working too? When we look at the number of eProcurement users, the answer is clear. Times have changed. Public agencies are embracing digital transformation and rethinking procurement processes to incorporate streamlined, digital-first practices.

Here’s some key evidence of eProcurement’s continued growth:

• Even though project volumes dipped in 2020, there were close to 50% more logins to the Bonfire platform than ever before.
• Not only did people log in more, but agencies expanded the use of eProcurement to a broader set of buyer groups within the agency. 
• Vendor and supplier registrations jumped by over half between 2019 and 2021.

3. Agencies are diversifying and widening their vendor pools

Public agencies are shifting their strategies for a post-pandemic world. And one significant way they’re doing that is through their vendor pool. Bonfire data shows that agencies are widening their network by sending out more vendor invitations. And they’re also seeking out more diverse, local, and small businesses to partner with. 

By tracking vendor diversity in Bonfire, buyers can quickly and easily gain increased visibility into the participation of diverse vendors, including small and medium-sized businesses and those owned by historically disadvantaged or marginalized groups. Diversifying and widening the vendor pool is a strategic move because it allows agencies to increase competition, mitigate supply chain issues (which continue to be a critical challenge during the pandemic), get the most value for taxpayer dollars, and support social procurement policies.

Our analysis uncovered these insights pointing to agencies’ increased attention to vendor diversity and relationships in 2021:

• Agencies have doubled the average number of registration fields they use to track vendor diversity within Bonfire.
• At least 10% of buyers are tracking vendor diversity in Bonfire.
• The percentage of vendors that identify as small, disadvantaged, and/or minority owned has increased in recent years.
• Agencies are also sending out twice as many vendor invitations in 2021 than they were in 2019.

Get more insights to accelerate your strategy

In 2020, public agencies pivoted to tackle emergency projects and keep their communities safe. Now, halfway through 2021, it’s clear that procurement teams are back to pre-pandemic levels of business—but it’s not business as usual. Agencies are advancing new priorities, strategies, and goals, and they’re planning for a world that looks a lot different than it did in 2019. The pandemic will continue to impact life for years to come, but our latest State of Public Sourcing report shows that public organizations are already integrating its lessons to plan for a better future.

Get more insights to help your public procurement team get back to business. Download The State of Public Sourcing: Fast and Focused.

When the time comes for you to get that new RFP together, where do you begin? As we’ve been engaging with our customers and the broader procurement community, the response we’re hearing is that there’s simply no easy answer. 

Everybody agrees that there’s no plagiarism in procurement—using each other’s best practices and RFP samples helps to ensure better outcomes for the whole community. However, finding the right kind of examples to help build a new RFP is easier said than done. The search for templates, trying to get in touch with nearby agencies, or simply resorting to general Google searches —these are just a few ways our customers try to help build out new RFPs.

Does this feel familiar to you?

At Bonfire, we also knew there had to be a better way for our customers to create RFPs. We also knew that everybody—not just our customers—would benefit from a new way to collaborate on new projects. 

Introducing Bonfire Open Access Community Projects

To that end, we’re excited to announce Bonfire Open Access Community Projects, a new tool that provides access to tens of thousands of public projects from our network of 500+ agencies across North America. Best of all, we’re making this tool completely free for everyone in procurement.

Launching later this fall, Open Access Community Projects will allow you to quickly search from up to 62,000 public projects (and growing) from our Bonfire network, and get access to all public supporting bid documents. 

We think that Open Access Community Projects will have the power to transform your RFP creation process, and here’s why:

• Get best-in-class examples of RFPs from 500+ agencies in the Bonfire network. No matter what kind of project you’re beginning, chances are that other agencies will have done the work already—work you can use directly when creating your next RFP.
• Access all public supporting bid documents, so you can see exactly how to structure your project. There’s no plagiarism in procurement—sharing best practices is what helps everyone improve their outcomes in procurement!
• Draw from thousands of new projects added monthly from our network of agencies across North America. Every day, you’ll get access to even more projects, so check back often on our always-growing collection.

What our customers are saying

Just this month, NIGP Forum 2021 brought together the best and brightest in procurement at their annual (virtual) event. This year, NIGP’s theme was all about Connecting Procurement Communities, so we thought there was no better place to announce Open Access Community Projects.

We’re glad to say that you seem just as excited about this new tool as we are. Here’s just one of our customers who got a sneak peek at Open Access Community Projects:

“One of the biggest challenges we face in procurement is getting the right information together for a new RFP and ensuring that we’re using best practices right from the start,” said Maija Lampinen, Procurement and Contracts Manager at the Port of Everett, Washington. “With Community Projects, we’ll be able to easily search for similar projects run by other agencies, see how they structured their projects, and access supporting project documents. It’s hard to understate how valuable this information will be for us going forward, and the impact it will have on how we run our projects and the time it saves us during RFP creation—especially for new or unfamiliar procurements.”

Get on our list for early access before the public launch

While we won’t be launching Open Access Community Projects until later this fall, you can reserve a spot for early access right now.

Be sure to head over to our registration page, learn a bit more about Open Access Community Projects, and sign up. With your spot reserved, you’ll be one of the first people to get access to this new tool ahead of the public launch.

Welcome to the moment in history when “business-as-usual” ceased to hold much meaning for public sector organizations. As the pandemic continues to impact ways of doing business and technology evolves at a rapid pace, change is the only constant.

At the same time, public procurement professionals everywhere are—how do we put this?—tired. Under constant pressure to respond and pivot, agencies are feeling the strain. So, it seems like the perfect time to ask: where do we go from here? If we know change is here to stay, how can public procurement teams make sure they’re ready for anything?

We’re tackling these big questions and more on our latest episode of Inside Public Procurement. We’re joined by special guest Amanda Burton, Contract Buyer at Utah Transit Authority (UTA), who shares her thoughts on how public sector procurement can respond to today’s challenges and innovate for the better.

Keep scrolling for a few hot topics from the show (spoiler alert!), and catch the full episode on our website or wherever you get your podcasts.

No shortage of supply chain shortages

65% of public sector organizations say they faced supply chain shortages during the pandemic, according to a recent Bonfire survey. For Amanda, even 15 years in the field of procurement couldn’t have prepared her for that challenge.

“There were many failures and many structural issues that have been brought to light due to the pandemic,” Amanda says. “Four or five years ago, most companies had moved to a just-in-time inventory, and with the pandemic, we realized pretty quickly that was not the best way to run a company. It left us very vulnerable.”

Describing a situation that’s no doubt familiar to many of our listeners, Amanda says she and her colleagues scrambled to get the products they needed to keep business running. Particularly challenging was the fact that organizations using the same pool of state and government funds were forced to bid against each other for essential products, such as PPE, causing prices to become even more inflated.

“I think that was a big eye-opener for a lot of us to kind of get out of the norm. It showed me personally how important vendor relationships are. Suddenly those mom and pop shops that I kind of overlooked a little bit were my main go-tos.”

In our conversation, Amanda dives into the lessons she learned from ongoing supply chain shortages, including identifying and dealing with fraudsters, sourcing in-demand products, handling shipping delays, and maintaining strong vendor relationships.

“Get out of the norm” to improve procurement

Evolving away from traditional ways of doing business has been necessary during the pandemic, but Amanda says it’s mostly been a good thing. Seeing how organizations and vendors pivoted to help one another and solve critical challenges is a trend she hopes will prevail long after the pandemic. And, for the most part, that ability to adapt has been driven by innovation.

“Innovation is very important in the world of procurement. Many times vendors come to us with new ideas… And if we listen with a non-judgemental ear, we’re able to push ideas to the forefront and hopefully better our processes.”

It’s easy to focus on other priorities or “get comfortable with current suppliers” and ways of doing things in procurement, but Amanda says making a conscious effort to find efficiencies and explore new solutions is one of the main ways that procurement can deliver value.

“I just worry that business-as-usual isn’t always best and we need to continue looking outside and looking for opportunity, and that’s what I try to do all the time. And if you do that there will be failures… But there are definitely wins too.”

Amanda shares her own experience driving process improvements at UTA that made it faster and easier for transit mechanics to access the parts they needed for critical repairs. After overcoming months and months of resistance, procurement’s solution is now dramatically cutting downtime and improving efficiency.

Discover even more on the podcast

The pandemic has transformed ways of doing business for good. And Amanda’s insights offer great inspiration for every procurement professional feeling overwhelmed by the rapid pace of change in today’s world.

Tune into our next episode to hear more from our conversation, including Amanda’s take on bridging the generational gap in procurement and dealing with the ever-present challenge of funding in the public sector.

Hungry for more tips, insights, and inspiration you can use to level up your procurement strategy? Head over to our website, or find Inside Public Procurement on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts!