#institutional-procurement

#institutional-procurement

What we want to do is make sure that CIOs are fully empowered to be there at the beginning of conversations, that they are part of the formulation of budget and policy from liftoff.

Among the 189 CDO and other data leader respondents to the annual survey conducted by the nonprofit, nonpartisan Data Foundation, about 40% said they had lost six or more employees last year.

These ambitious spending targets will help ensure more government contracts go to SMEs, keeping more money, jobs and opportunities within local communities.

Doing so has failed to prioritize agency internal control processes to adequately protect American taxpayer dollars, leading to documented examples of widespread abuse. Prior versions of OMB's guidance have overly deferred to the direction and priorities of external entities whose views are not binding on the Executive Branch, such as the Government Accountability Office.

Berkeley has awarded tens of millions of dollars in contracts that weren't subjected to a competitive bid process, according to a new report, which could lead to the city paying too much for goods and services, or create opportunities for corruption. The investigation by the office of City Auditor Jenny Wong found Berkeley often used non-competitive contracts in cases where it should have solicited for other bids, including in two deals for recycling services worth a combined $41.4 million, which are up for extensions soon.

Understanding the difference in purpose Unlike private businesses, which exist to make a profit, public institutions are designed to create impact - especially social and economic outcomes that benefit everyone, not just paying customers. A public agency doesn't measure its success in revenue or margins, but in how much it improves lives, builds equity and maintains public trust. This doesn't mean budgets and spending don't matter - they absolutely do - but money is not the goal. It's the tool.

GSA also wants information on factors that drive the range of markups such as volume, product category, support levels and business size. The questions also wants to know if sourcing hardware through a distributor versus directly with the OEM drives variations in the markups. GSA wants to identify ways to reduce the cost on items that are not purchased directly from OEMs.

IT and tech suppliers to the UK public sector with the fastest-growing revenues increased incomes by an average of 1.8x and £3.8m each between 2023 and 2025. The fastest-growing companies were in the defence sector, with one company - SRC UK - growing revenue by 16x across the period. Those are some of the findings of public sector IT research specialist Tussell in its annual Tech200 report on the fastest-growing tech suppliers to the public sector.

"Ironically, many if not most of these 'sustainability' projects remain disassociated from companies' core procurement strategies, meaning the coffee produced from these projects is not necessarily bought by the companies involved, or only in minimal quantities," the paper states. "And for the coffee that is purchased, prices do not factor into the project design, despite the fact that price is the single variable impacting farmer income that is in the direct control of companies."

With the Supreme Court potentially poised to invalidate recent tariffs, organizations face a confusing scenario. Having clear visibility into contract terms - such as price adjustments and renegotiation provisions - is essential to navigating this volatility. Come join us on at 1 p.m. ET on Jan. 27 for this CLE-approved webinar, where we'll discuss the current state of the tariff conundrum and explore strategies for achieving contract visibility with the latest AI innovations.

Digital procurement has transformed how businesses find, evaluate and manage suppliers. Platforms are faster, data is cleaner, and decision making is more informed than ever before. Yet for all the efficiency digital tools bring, procurement still relies heavily on one timeless ingredient: human connection. Bridging the gap between digital procurement and real world supplier engagement is where the strongest partnerships are built.

Companies are under attack publicly and privately for policies viewed as "too progressive" or "woke." The reality, however, is that most companies have strongly reaffirmed their sustainability commitments but less so their DEI commitments. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) works in the grey area between the two. Many affirming companies have opted for "greenhushing," staying quiet about their strategies and leadership.

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Americans are likely to have spent a record $1 trillion-plus this holiday shopping season alone, and about $5.5 trillion in retail sales in all of 2025, according to estimates by the National Retail Federation. That includes many unhappy returns for retailers: And when it comes back to them, a lot of the $850 billion in returned merchandise is often cheaper to discard than to inspect, sort, and resell-adding millions of tons to landfills every year.

"If an organisation has performed so badly for its customers that it has become a national scandal and warranted its own TV drama, surely it's time the government spent its money elsewhere," Megawarne said.

In a filing with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims on Friday, NITAAC explained that cancelling the contract is in line with President Trump's executive order, Eliminating Waste and Saving Taxpayer Dollars by Consolidating Procurement. "As a result of these efforts, HHS has shifted its focus away from re-evaluation of existing offers," the agency told the court. NITAAC also plans to extend CIO-SP3 for another year, which would push its expiration date until April 29, 2027.

The US General Services Administration is flogging discounts of up to 64 percent under a OneGov Agreement covering Broadcom's VMware portfolio - though the actual hypervisor that made VMware famous isn't included. The framework covers VMware Tanzu Platform, Tanzu Data Intelligence, Avi Load Balancer, vDefend, and the Tanzu AI Starter Kit. Notably absent: VMware vSphere Foundation, the virtualization platform most agencies actually use.

By 2026, the agency was a shell of its former self. Most of its contracts were terminated and thousands of employees fired as the administration moved to wind down the agency's operations. A recent study published in The Lancet medical journal predicts that the USAID cuts, in concert with reductions from other western nations, could result in the deaths of 9.4 million people around the world by 2030 and increase the spread of malaria, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis.

Having spent nearly a decade leading digital infrastructure and technology initiatives at the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), I've had a front-row seat to the opportunities and challenges federal agencies face in their modernization journeys. During my tenure as Associate CIO for Digital Infrastructure Technologies, overseeing the IT backbone for 17,000 users, I learned that successful transformation isn't just about the latest tech: it's about strategic vision, collaborative execution and a willingness to learn from experience.