Original article published on Linkedin by Dustin Lanier, CPPO
TURNING AWAY FROM TRANSACTIONAL PURCHASING - When a central public procurement team is overwhelmed with transaction management, it is operating primarily in reaction to an inbound request. The transition to a strategic stance - and strategic sourcing - comes with asking not just "what is the oldest thing on my desk", but asking "what's the next best thing to do."
Let's discuss Strategic Sourcing - Frankly, the term has gotten a bit of a bad rap with some public procurement officers, as it became associated with consultant "playbook 101" strategies that focused on vendor reduction in every category.
Strategic sourcing can involve this approach, but it's only one tool in the toolkit.
I have found a strategic sourcing culture comes from:
- valuing data and resourcing its management
- creating competencies in buyers
- Segmenting spend into actionable categories
- assessing our contracting approach within categories
- establishing a for-purpose category contracting strategy
- active management to drive savings and value to our customers
- quantifying performance to optimize over time
When a central public procurement organization is overwhelmed with transaction management, it is operating primarily in reaction to an inbound request - a requisition or a renewal of a pending contract expiration.
The transition to a strategic stance - and strategic sourcing - comes with asking not just "what is the oldest thing on my desk", but asking "what's the next best thing to do."
We asked a Strategic Sourcing in Public Sector panel how it worked out in 2020 and to glean on lessons learned as we move forward. Check out the full recording here.
Thanks to our stellar panel of professionals for the insights:
Ann Dolan: CPO, Service New Brunswick
Gary Lambert: CPO, State of Massachusetts
Ash Shetty, CPO, Montgomery County
Justin Sullivan, Director of Strategic Sourcing, University of California System
