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How a Taiwanese Government Innovation Could Solve a Peculiarly American Problem
Aug 30, 2017
The latest excuse for Americans to divide themselves into warring camps is over the fate of Confederate Civil War monuments. One camp says these are offensive lionizations of slaveholders, while the other says they are part of our heritage and that taking them down disrespects our history.
I will...
What Can Blockchain Do for Public Procurement?
Aug 28, 2017
How Government Agencies Can Revolutionize Their Interactions with Citizens
To some extent, blockchain technology is like an iceberg. What you see is just one tiny fraction of what is hidden beneath the surface. Most people have heard of the blockchain in connection with digital currencies, such as...
SmallGovCon Week In Review: August 21-25, 2017
Aug 25, 2017
It has been a busy week that kicked off with a total solar eclipse. I was on an airline heading to San Diego for 2017 Department of the Navy Gold Coast Small Business Procurement Event, so I missed the spectacle. I didn’t get to wear eclipse glasses, but was well worth it to be part of that...
Is Time Running Out to Prevent a Massive Cyberattack?
Aug 24, 2017
According to a new report approved by the Department of Homeland Security’s National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC), U.S. critical infrastructure is in “a pre-9/11 moment” when it comes to cybersecurity. If government and industry don’t dramatically increase their efforts to protect...
Agile Procurement for the Public Sector
Aug 19, 2017
TRADITIONAL PRACTICES VS MODERN-DAY REALITIES
Public sector procurement practices are based on the fundamental principles that procurement must be fair, open, and transparent. That you must say what you will do, say so in a public fashion, and do what you said you would do. This is founded on the...
ICYMI: Agencies Need Agile Contracting Officers
Aug 17, 2017
Agile development is driving innovation in IT and government services and two Department of Homeland Security officials say it should also stretch to the contracting office. Continuous Diagnostic and Mitigation Program Manager Kevin Cox and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Deputy...
Public Procurement Technology Symposium
Aug 16, 2017
Technology is changing procurement—in nearly all aspects.
Yet, adoption of technology in the public sector, in spite of global government spending almost $10 trillion every year, is very low.
Public Spend Forum, in collaboration with academia and experts from around the world, will...
As Sure As Tax, Rain, Death: Digitalisation Dragons? (Part I)
Aug 10, 2017
Digialisation Dragons (Detail from a 15th century miniature in the British Library).
We hear about disruptive technologies and live in a VUCA world (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous). New technologies will change business models as they have always done. However the four VUCA factors...
Suppliers Who Fail To Deliver – A Public Procurement Dilemma
Aug 10, 2017
The EU and national procurement regulations and defined processes are designed to achieve several objectives. They aim to achieve the best value supply for the taxpayer, to open up and stimulate public sector supply markets and to protect the citizen against fraud and corruption. They also often...
Does Spend Visibility Really Matter to Your Spend Capacity?
Aug 10, 2017
Accurate budget planning is one of the most challenging tasks of government operations today. However, budget cuts, program eliminations, and spending reductions should be made to support policy goals. eProcurement platforms make it easy to gain complete visibility into historical and current...
How to Be Strategic in Public Procurement and Government Contracting
Aug 10, 2017
It seems like every purchasing/acquisition leader I talk with (in both the private and public sectors,) as well as many or most of the practitioner-directed literature I read discusses their organization’s transformational journey. In my experience, most purchasing/acquisition organizations claim...
Procurement Technology: Why is the Public Sector Absent from the Table?
Aug 9, 2017
While private sector companies invest billions to innovate and create commercial technologies that streamline and improve the procurement process, the federal government (especially) and local governments (to some degree) continue to lag way behind, choosing to build custom applications and...
