We have some other written articles around the issues of lots and lotting (splitting up their contract requirements into smaller contracts), and the confusion in the UK around how far contracting authorities need to go in terms of lotting, or at least showing that they have considered lotting. We...

According to the 2017 Benchmarking Public Procurement (BPP) report from the World Bank, governments all over the world are still struggling with transparency and efficiency in their public procurement. Each year, the World Bank compiles data from 123 countries to assess the state of government...

Over the course of our study of public procurement skills, we talked with nearly 50 leaders in the public sector about what they thought the desired outcomes for public procurement—and the role of the procurement function within the larger organization—should be. Full Article: Public Spend...

Everything You Need to Successfully Navigate the Procurement Industry No matter what your sector or industry, procurement is procurement, right? Well, not quite. There are definitely some aspects of procurement that remain the same whether you’re involved in public procurement or private...

For years California’s Child Welfare System—the electronic records system that helped keep track of cases for neglected, abused and vulnerable kids—was woefully out of date. And when California decided to go out to bid for a new one, the request for proposal was typically “monolithic,”...

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...