Barter or charity: California seeks free IT security services
California’s state Department of Motor Vehicles issued a request for quotation with unusual terms: requesting bidders to supply free work.
When Strategic Sourcing Fails Taxpayers: NJ Transit and Telecom
Courtesy of The Strategic Sourcerer, I recently learned of yet another futile attempt by a government agency — in this case a state government — to fully take advantage of a cost reduction opportunity. In the above-linked post, we learn how the NJ Transit RFP for “Telecom Bill Audit and Recovery Services” stops short of […]
Ketera Joins the Free eRFX Fray
Last week, Ketera announced a new free eRFX offering designed around connecting buyers to suppliers. There’s
nothing overly novel in the approach of providing a free forum to
connect buyers and suppliers — MFG.com, Ariba’s network, and others …
One Vote in Favor of Group Purchasing Organizations for Simple Categories
In the debate over group purchasing organizations (GPOs), I’m still
not entirely convinced that they represent a good investment outside
of a handful of select spend areas — at least for most companies.
After all, the payoff for doing sourc…
Cutting Fat From the $55.6 billion DHS Federal Budget
For a private-sector minded individual, cutting fat from a Federal procurement budget might at first seem like an extremely easy task. But once you sort your way through all the Federal red tape not to mention congressional and presidential meddling,…
Should You Ever Bypass an RFP Process?
Over on The Strategic Sourcerer, there’s a useful post that examines when it might make sense to bypass an RFP to better engage a list of potential suppliers or bidders for a project. But is there ever a place for breaking with the routine RFP part o…
