Strategic Procurement, Research Paper Example

The advantages of strategic public procurement in the acquisition of information technology systems, solutions, and services by U.S. federal agencies

In large corporations, supply chains, and countries, the process of procurement is used in selecting the specifications or the acquisitions required for goods and services. Focusing on governments, with the United States being one of the largest organizations in the world, they have spent billions in procurements in which go to several different departments, and agencies. In the world of business, this process of procurement is in important in any field, as it helps in facilitating the favorable services, goods, or works that are cost effective, and minimize exposure to collusion, and fraud. One of the less explored topics that deal with public procurement and contract management is the procurement process in the acquisition of information technology. More importantly, the advantages of strategic public procurement in the acquisition of information technology systems. These advantages include, helping with sustainable development and inclusive growth. As well as aiding in a well-functioning government which promotes a level playing field in the public and private sector, and providing quality information technologies to the public. This paper will focus on the process of strategic procurement used in governments in acquiring technology in order to be used throughout the federal agencies.

The process of procurement is used extensively throughout the world as it has become a main staple for sustainable development and growth. Producers and exporters face various difficulties to remain all around focused and put resources into their kin, techniques, and items. The proceeding quality of the American dollar, the global fiscal crisis, the European obligation emergency, the expanding rivalry at home and in essential markets, and the quickening pace of mechanical development are simply some of the issues The American industry is at present confronting. Lately, political figures, scholastics and business chiefs have set noteworthy accentuation on innovation as a key driver of assembling intensity and long haul performance. Put, American producers can’t get by in today’s very challenging and aggressive worldwide business environment without being inventive. While industry, itself, assumes a paramount role in deciding its own performance, governments have an enormous part to play with the controls, regulations, and supporting components to energize also cultivate advancement and item commercialization. Thusly, like business contending on a global scale, governments, as well, must contend and strive to make the best business environment to draw in speculation, research, also the creation. Today, numerous nations, including United States’ essential exchanging accomplices, use government procurement strategies to fortify the private economy and make occupations by being a principal supporter and client of residential development and by creating a level playing field for organizations to work in vital markets.

Procurement is the acquisition of merchandise or administrations. It is ideal that the merchandise or administrations are suitable and that they are secured at the best conceivable expense to help the buyer regarding quality and amount, time, and area. Companies and public bodies regularly characterize methods expected to advertise reasonable and open competition for their business while minimizing presentation to duplicity and plot. All activities oblige materials to work. The kind of materials will rely on upon the sort of extend that is to be attempted. Acquirement does cater for obtaining of the materials as well as how the materials are overseen once they get into the organization. Experts recognize acquisition as one of the ranges most inclined to defilement in the wellbeing and instruction segments. Defilement in acquisition affects the effectiveness of open using and benefactors’ assets, makes waste and, eventually, influences the nature of wellbeing and training administrations and the open doors they present to enhance personal satisfaction. Defilement likewise hurts organizations that deliver products and administrations here as it expands operation expenses, lessens aggressiveness and, in the medium term, is bad business. Contracting is the primary way a legislature works and public cash is used. “In this sense, contracts are the vehicles for actualizing open arrangement.” (Parent Advocates 1) A critical allotment of wellbeing and instruction consumption goes to acquisition or contracts for products and administrations. It is evaluated that between 20-half of the legislature wellbeing plan is used to obtain drugs. Anticipating and controlling debasement in acquisition is, in this manner, determining element in approach and undertaking proficiency.

In understanding the advantages to public procurement, we must first look at the significance of strategic procurement planning in which is defined, “is the transformation of an organization’s mission, goals, and objectives into measurable activities to be used to plan, budget, and manage the procurement function within the organization.” (Principles and Practices 1) According to the government, the United States accounts annually for $7 trillion in government procurement for public authorities. (Prieb, Harvey, Friton 3) However, the government has often criticized the Federal Acquisition Regulation, in which governs the federal procurement for deficiencies in the data presented. In the essential elected procurement process, acquisition faculty, in the wake of deciding their organizations’ prerequisites (that is, the merchandise and administrations the office needs), post a requesting on the Federal Business Opportunities website. Intrigued organizations set up their offers in light of the sales, and, as per appropriate procurements of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), org staff assess the offers. An alternate kind of procurement open door for an organization is to serve as a subcontractor for an administration builder. To be qualified to go after government gets, an organization must get a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number and register with the national government’s System for Award Management (SAM). A few organizations, for example, the General Services Administration (GSA), give help and administrations to existing and potential government foremen. Innovative work (R&D) procurement open doors may include customary contracting techniques, for example, requesting and contracts, and nontraditional systems, which incorporate office supported challenges and investment reserves. (Halcin 2) In finding new technology and systems for the federal agencies, the central government’s fundamental strategic procurement plan or methodology includes an agency recognizing the products and administrations it needs to decide the most proper technique for buying these things and completing the securing. Despite the fact that this methodology is straightforward in principle, any given acquirement might be mind-boggling, including a huge number of choices and movements.

The importance of acquiring new information technologies, the commitment of the data innovation industry, impacts the national budgetary advancement, as a beneficial division in itself. All the more vitally, as an empowering influence of profitable utilization of data and correspondence advances (ICTs) all through the economy and pop culture, has swayed strategy markets to put set up open methods and projects that encourage its improvement. An extensive variety of instruments is accessible to arrangement creators in this connection. Planning and executing open acquisition methodologies, and also practices, serves to expand the investment of nearby IT firms when general society part obtains IT products and policies. For instance, in the United States, parkways, streets, runway offices, and mass travel foundation tasks are upheld by arrangements that boost investment profits for the nation. By expanding the utilization of local assembling industry, while permitting rivalry that is focused around impartial standards for all merchants. In the US and different markets, governments help mechanical development as first clients for imaginative items produced locally. Customarily, key procurement has been utilized as part of ranges, for example, national barrier to guarantee a nation could save its residential ability to deliver and convey exceptionally advanced safeguard frameworks if vital. The production of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in the US is a decent sample of how development assumed a focal part in securing US national security by guaranteeing the mechanical predominance of the US over other military forces.

The reliance on data innovation (IT) has expanded continuously for associations as a deliberately paramount point of interest. On the off chance that arranged, created, and oversaw legitimately, IT can realize a more noteworthy productivity in hierarchical operations, better working situations, and successful choice making processes. (Jordham, Praham 3) Therefore, various associations are attempting to make up for lost time the improvement crevice with the business by method for engineering acquisition. Technology procurement procedure is vital in creating a decent administration data framework for the association. Numerous IT anticipates having fizzled, as a result, of poor configuration arranging, false choice of the growth, and the absence of catch up on key developments tended to in the securing methodology. This examination paper examines suitable steps and essential components in organizing, getting, creating, and evaluating the IT procurement.

The advantages of strategic procurement for the government in acquiring technology systems, solutions, and services is best used as technology results are established upon and must coordinate with the working practices of the substance. Procurement authorities must keep on discovering approaches to innovatively streamline methodologies, get more productive, advertise responsibility, safeguard process honesty and give data in regards to contracting exercises and choices that construct and fortify open trust. Productive characterized framework’s methodologies, and guidelines help diminishing the expense of the engineering financing. The strategic procurement methodology is to discover the best answer for the appropriate scale of engineering financing and the incorporation of acquisition staff in the result advancement process. The quantifiable profit for actualizing new information technology results are transparency, streamlined work processes, and enhanced choice making. Notwithstanding securing the necessary technology, government staff must be ready to learn and receive new or more efficient methods for directing procurement transactions. A centered necessary procurement arrangement is favorable to all federal agencies.

The primary advantage of strategic procurement is that it permits an open body to pick between numerous suppliers. This ought to make value rivalry, therefore, decreasing the expense to the organization and at last the citizen. The other principle contention for this kind of procurement is that it considers the utilization of experts, as opposed to work being completed by in-house representatives. This can be a matter of mastery; a business organization will regularly have a finer capacity to distinguish, contract and train staff for a particular part than an org that handles an extent of errands. The US government relies on information technology, systems, and other services in all of its departments and responsibilities, from pharmaceuticals to weapons systems. The government spends roughly $80 billion a year on IT services and products. (McGill, Lill, Scheme 1)  There are additionally economies of scale. An open body that just needs to do a specific undertaking on a restricted premise won’t think that it worth putting resources into the sort of a pro apparatus that a business organization will purchase, or profit as much from mass rebates on materials. The recent flubs in the technology infrastructure, most notably the Healthcare website, has placed considerable criticism on the need to acquire new information technology systems and solutions.

Another advantage for the government includes the purchase of a tremendous exhibit of merchandise and administrations from furniture and vehicles to power procurement and waste taking care of. The government procurement represents near 20 for every penny of GDP in OECD nations, and regularly significantly all the more in the center and lower-pay nations. This furnishes governments with an effective interest side instrument to utilize their critical acquiring force to trigger markets for more feasible merchandise and administrations and drive green development. Government, then again, is not concerned with benefit expansion. This strategic procurement guarantees that fundamental and key however beneficial products are accessible to people in general. This is accomplished through support in the expense of operations of an organization contracted to supply these merchandise and administrations. The legislature could likewise give them. Thus, people in general are guaranteed of proceeded supply. As the government utilizes a department for governing procurement, these tenets incorporate guaranteeing that rival is energized and that methods emulated throughout the contracting methodology are uncovered to all gatherings included all the while. This guarantees that the suppliers honored an agreement to supply open products will offer better quality administrations. This diminishes the expense, expands conveyance proficiency and nature of administrations. These profits lead to expand worth and productivity. More importantly, each organization has a chance to seek agreement to supply open products and administrations. This supports rivalry in the private part as builders try to exceed one another to acquire a cut of the lucrative government tenders. Just the most suitable organization will be granted the agreement. This prompts a change in the nature of merchandise and administrations gave to the parts of open.

The primary solution for strategic procurement is transparency. This has been seen in the creation of the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act, in which has gained significant traction that would help in strategic procurement for IT. This can be resolved in the expansion of “Chief Information Officer Authority and Accountability, establishment of Federal Centers for IT Acquisition, strengthening the IT acquisition workforce, and other solutions to expand the data, and make technology systems more cost-effective.” (McGill, Lill, Scheimer 5) Other strategies include, creating a forward-looking acquirement methods that incorporate R&D procurement to create new results that address these difficulties. General society part can have a critical effect on the mid-to long haul productivity and adequacy of open administrations, and additionally on the development execution and the intensity of European industry.

In looking at the advantages of the strategic procurement of information technologies, any solution that will stay feasible over the long haul must strike a harmony between accessible assets and transparency. Reasonableness frequently constrains government to adjust assets against craved or ordered levels of transparency. Successful usage of data engineering results, frameworks, and innovation will oblige vision and arrangement, in which the administration must attempt to recognize open doors for institutionalization and streamlining. The advantages for procurement include low risk of fraud, corruption, and monopoly from certain industries. In utilizing in several federal agencies, the government can find procurement advantageous in finding cost effective solutions in acquiring the new technologies that will beneficial to not only the private sector but also the public sector. It will help in aiding the development of weaponry, technological infrastructures, roads, and other areas in which benefit the public to a great extent.

Works Cited

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Halchin, L Elaine. “Overview of the Federal Procurement Process and Resources.” Congressional Research Service. 11 Sep. 2012. Web. 26 June 2014. http://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RS22536.pdf

Joham, C.,Pradham, J. “IT Acquisition: The Need for A Systematic IT Strategy: International Federation of Information Processing. 2006. Web. 25 June 2014. http://www.ifip.org/…/openbiblio/opac/viewDocument.php?id=48&PHPSESSID=ff38181250ee3a1270b92c675988965f

McGill, Michael, Lill, Brendan, Scheimer, Michael. “Federal IT Procurement’s ‘‘15 Minutes of Fame’’: Healthcare.gov, the Federal ITAcquisition Reform Act, and the Prospects for Significant Reform in 2014.” Bloomberg BNA. 11 March 2014. Web. 26 June 2014. http://www.hlregulation.com/files/2014/03/BNA-FITARA-Article.pdf

Prieß, Hans-Joachim, ed. Public Procurement 2012: An overview of regulation in 40 jurisdictions worldwide. Getting the Deal Through. 2012. Web. 25 June 2014. http://www.pragerdreifuss.com/system/document_des/120/original/PP2012_Switzerland.pdf?1342595536

“Public Procurement for Sustainable and Inclusive Growth.” OECD. 2013. Web. 26 June 2014. http://www.oecd.org/gov/ethics/PublicProcurementRev9.pdf

“Strategic Procurement Planning.” Principles and Practices of Public Procurement. 2013. Web. 26 June 2014. http://principlesandpractices.org/wpcontent/uploads/2013/04/StrategicProcurementPlanning.pdf

“Transparency in Government: Transparency in Government Procurement.” NIGP. 2013. Web. 26 June 2014.http://www.globalpublicprocurement.org/Documents/Resources/White-Papers/130311_Transparency%20in%20Government_Complete.pdf