States and vendors both are frustrated by procurement

A recent investigation by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers has found that the public sector’s reputation of being tricky to sell products to is in some cases well earned. 

A report published by the group Wednesday reveals a landscape of procurement laws and varying terms and conditions that are challenging vendors. The report concludes by making several recommendations, including that private companies educate themselves on the procurement processes of the states where they bid and to deploy legal teams that are specialized in public sector dealings. Among the investigation’s findings was an admission by many companies that they use the same team to make bids in the public and private sectors.

Government procurement is a notoriously tortuous process, in part by design to ensure proper stewardship of taxpayer funds, but also because many states’ processes are outdated or rely on old technologies. The report found that many states still rely on systems that rely on physical signatures and paper forms.

Despite their procurement processes’ admitted shortcomings, state officials still expressed frustration, the report said, that private companies seem often not to understand how their procurements work. The report recommends that companies familiarize themselves with state procurement laws, particularly their non-negotiable terms and conditions. NASCIO’s report also notes that many “quotes from vendors expire in 30 days, which is often less time than it takes to secure funding and/or the required approvals for the project.”

Several states, such as Florida, Missouri and Texas, have made attempts in recent years to improve their procurement processes through the creation of vendor portals, the streamlining of processes or updating their technologies, researchers found.

The report also points to a separate investigation that concluded last February finding that one of the most expedient improvements states can make to their procurement processes is low-tech: By simply adding summary sheets to the front of each request for proposal, researchers found, they were able to mitigate several of the private sector’s biggest complaints with the documents, such as that they’re lengthy, difficult to read and often bury many of the details that would allow them to determine if a contract is worth pursuing. 

Waldo Jaquith, a government delivery manager with the nonprofit U.S. Digital Response, who led that project, told StateScoop that many vendors find it “really frustrating” to review RFPs. According to NASCIO’s February report, one vendor who was shown a summary sheet said it was like “a dream.” Another called it “unusual” to be able to find all of the pertinent information in just a few minutes.