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Six Ways for Public Procurement Buyers to Get the Best Price
May 31, 2017
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...
The False Promise of Scale in Public Procurement and Government Contracting
May 31, 2017
Procurement and acquisition professionals often struggle with the tradeoffs of “scale economies” versus “socio-economic goals.” The assumption derives from a false premise that bigger companies and bigger contracts inherently yield lower cost. But, that assumption fails to understand the...
Defense Acquisition Reform Bill Wants to Create a Marketplace Like Amazon
May 19, 2017
Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX) has released his defense acquisition reform bill, which will be folded into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) later this year. The bill focuses on improving the Department of Defense’s purchasing of commercial items. According to Federal News Radio, “The...
Market Engagement Best Practice Report from the SPP Regions
May 14, 2017
The Procurement Forum website is managed by the European Secretariat of ICLEI- Local Governments for Sustainability, as part of the Procurement of Innovation Platform project financed by the European Commission. It is a good way of finding out what is going on in the public “procurement of...
Mini Case Studies and Key Principles of Early Market Engagement as an Integral Part of Requirements Planning
May 3, 2017
This article focuses on key principles with several supporting mini-case studies, describing and illustrating the principles behind early market engagement as a critical part of requirements planning. The article is written specifically for the public procurement and provides a rich set of...
What Are The Real Reasons Small Firms Won’t Sell To The Government?
May 3, 2017
Professor Steve Kelman (Professor, Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and Senior Advisor to Public Spend Forum) shares his perspectives on why small, innovative firms can have a hard time selling to government (especially Federal government within the US). Often times, some...
Total Cost Of Ownership For Enterprise Software – A Guide For CIOs
May 2, 2017
CIO.com (serving Chief Information Officers (CIOs), other IT leaders, as well as the ecosystem that surrounds and interacts with them) describes the most common TCO elements for enterprise software.
What are the key takeaways?
As stated in the article:
“The Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for...
How to Negotiate with Powerful Suppliers
May 2, 2017
A timeless and broadly applicable article on tactics that you can employ today on “how to negotiate with powerful suppliers.” Strategic in nature and at the same time serving as a convenient “checklist” when prepare to negotiate with suppliers that have the upper hand. But the key is to...
Government of South Australia Shares Guidance on Market Analysis in Public Procurement
May 2, 2017
The Government of South Australia shares their guidelines for conducting in-depth and rigorous market analyses. Organizations often conduct basic “market research” or gather up some “market intelligence”, but without conducting rigorous and practical analyses and/or lacking in an eye toward...
Pivot To Post-Award: What Contracting Officers Think Is Needed To Fix Contract Management
May 1, 2017
This article summarizes key discussion points from a round-table hosted by the IBM Center for the Business of Government and Professor Steve Kelman (Professor, Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and Senior Advisor to Public Spend Forum) on post-award contract management, in...
Guidebook to Contract Management in Public Procurement – Start in the Pre-Award Phase
May 1, 2017
The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) presents a comprehensive guide book to managing contracts. This guide covers key principles across the entire contract life cycle. As mentioned in the introduction:
“This guide is intended to cover all those activities associated with...
Procurement and Supplier Relationship Management at the U.S. Air Force Materiel Command
May 1, 2017
This report begins with an in depth discussion on suppler relationship management (SRM) best practices with an emphasis on early engagement and supplier development.
The majority of the report is focused on a robust case study of current SRM practices at the U.S. Air Force Materiel Command, and the...
