Learning & Skills

Competitive pricing is predicated on a keen understanding of a number of factors, including a market and its suppliers, internal user requirements and their demand patterns, and alignment with the user community. Several sophisticated techniques can and should be explored to determine their...

At Public Spend Forum, we’re interested in identifying the qualities that every procurement pro needs to succeed—not just in her career, but in fulfilling the agency’s mission. One thing we discovered as we talked with experts in the field, no matter how much job descriptions change and the...

This timeless research paper lays out the 10 key, very practical strategies for managing total cost, cutting across the 3 phases of the acquisition/procurement life cycle (Pre-Award, Award, and Post-Award). When applied systematically and critically against all acquisitions / procurements,...

We threatened recently to run a series on buying professional services in the context of public sector organisations and buyers. That came about in part through a report that identified spend by central government in the UK on consultants was rising again after some years of decline. Let’s make a...

Within private sector procurement, there are a number of advanced technologies that are beginning to reshape how we think about the role of “buying.” Perhaps the best place to start is in the world of sourcing itself. When I first started in the profession, top performing private sector...

While every job description is different, when it comes to a senior leadership role, such as that of a Chief Procurement Officer (CPO), there are many similarities. Regardless of the organization size, sector or target market of the organization, there are certain basic requirements for a CPO. For...

The Keys to Value and Success in the Public Sector Working within the public sector has its challenges. All too often, the entire public sector market—buyers and suppliers alike—is subjected to arbitrary policies drafted by groups that have little understanding of how to generate value or...

To satisfy the market research needs of federal buyers, many IT firms in the federal sector create marketing materials and presentations that are often nothing more than introductions to the firm, the firm’s capabilities, and little else that fail to discuss the one thing that is important to...

Note: This post is co-authored by Tim Cooke, CEO of ASI Government, and Dan Chenok, executive director of the IBM Center for the Business of Government. Recently, the Professional Services Council’s Outcomes-Oriented Acquisition Working Group Chair Tim Cooke joined with me, IBM Center for the...

This article was originally published in Washington Technology on June 28, 2010, and written by Matthew Weigelt. For a long time, Kim Nguyen has felt a growing pressure in the federal information technology marketplace, and there’s been no let-up. Pragmatics Inc., where Nguyen is vice president...

Last week, we held the kick-off meeting for the Public Spend Forum Best Practices Exchange in the UK. The Exchange has been a feature of the Public Spend Forum program in the USA for a year or more now, one of the elements of the PSF initiative launched by Raj Sharma and his team. Nancy Clinton and...

Late last month, the Federal Acquisition Regulation Council proposed an unusual rule, one that specifically stated that agencies are encouraged to engage in “responsible and constructive exchanges with industry, so long as those exchanges are consistent with existing laws and regulations, and...