Expert: Government tech buyers should acquire systems that offer continuous improvements
Summary
The company recently announced the release of its 13th annual “Deltek Clarity Government Contracting Industry Study.” “The most savvy buyers and sellers these days know that client demands and technological capabilities are evolving too rapidly to nail down a tactical set of best practices.” He says government IT leaders have to work toward an operational model of brokering vendor relationships and managing services that can be continuously upgraded. “It’s really more about limiting features and options to a very small number of combinations that have been proven to meet a broad range of buyer needs.” Staff augmentation services, software programming or units of cloud-based storage could all come under this definition of “commodity” in Dixon’s view. “Of course, the strategic, operational and security components of IT should be informing all of the decisions along with a partner from the procurement office.” He adds that outside of those constants, the cast of stakeholders will change depending on what mission is served by each acquisition. “When our survey of SLED buyers and procurement staff asked for reasons for choosing a co-op deal, 80 percent said that ‘saving money’ was a key motivator, pointing to the proven value-generating benefits of these purchases that are made possible by pooling the purchasing power of many governments together into lucrative long-term contracts for vendors and suppliers.” He notes that the GovWin survey spotlighted two more cooperative contract benefits. “A third big motivator was having access to ‘proven solutions’—cited by 71 percent, and finally, the ability to ‘fill a gap or last-minute request,’ cited by 54 percent of the respondents—this was a key driver during the pandemic lockdowns.” Dixon explains that during a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic, when buyers lack the time to be an expert in every area and struggle to meet needs, knowing that these convenient purchase items are all proven with a previous track record of use in SLED government can instill confidence among buyers.
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