We’ve written a lot recently about the effectiveness of challenges and prizes in public procurement, particularly in bringing in potential suppliers who exist far outside the orbit of the standard marketplace. The U.S. Agency for International Development, for instance, has used challenges to...

Understanding markets and supplier capabilities is critical to engaging a market, developing a purchasing strategy and meeting your organizational needs. Given how time intensive and time-consuming market intelligence can be, we have tried to make the job a little easier. Public Spend Forum teamed...

Developed in coordination with the Volcker Alliance, our draft model of the key competencies that are required for the public procurement workforce identifies 12 key competencies critical to every public procurement organization. This quick reference guide lays out and describes all twelve....

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...

I had the great fortune to speak with several leaders in government and industry about a novel approach to improving communication: the reverse industry day. At a time when seemingly everyone agrees that collaboration between government and industry leaves a lot to be desired, it is refreshing to...

If you haven’t yet, you should check out our brand new Public Spend Forum YouTube channel, where we’re posting a lot of short videos that offer practical tips to help you in your job every day. In one of our latest, retired Air Force acquisition officer and author Dan Ward talks about a really...

We so often hear about how difficult it is for the Department of Defense to work with smaller or newer businesses, that it’s often easy to write off any potential working relationship as dead in the water. But that’s exactly why the Pentagon created the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental...

Whether you’re buying off a common contract or preparing your own solicitation, with shifting responsibilities and definitions, custodial services can be a slippery category to grasp. In this edition of our purchasing insights series, learn about the market and potential ways to drive most value...

Public Spend Forum CEO Raj Sharma and Professor David Wyld conducted secondary research and interviewed dozens of public and private sector leaders to identify issues that challenge public procurement of IT and practical ways to fix it. This report presents practical recommendations for improving...

Managing a category like the personal computer market can be tricky, not only because of the breadth of offerings, but the number of potential suppliers. This quick reference guide for buyers in the PC market should help inform your buy. Read More … 0

With so many options and configurations, printers and other hardware is often cited as a difficult category to wrangle. With that in mind, we’ve put together a quick reference guide with data and market insights, to help inform your buy. The following document is a part of Public Spend Forum’s...

Food services are contracted by every type of organization: commercial businesses, institutions like universities and hospitals and governments. There are many techniques to improve sourcing of this service to manage costs and satisfy customers. As part of Public Spend Forum’s category...