or call us at 877.710.0413.State Turns Buyers into Strategists
Back to In the NewsFor decades, the state relied on people called order-takers to handle purchases. When a purchase request arrived from a state agency, the order-taker posted it for the public to read. Soon, proposals would arrive, and after opening all bids in public, the order-takers chose the bid with the lowest price.
They considered few details surrounding the initial purchase request.
"They didn't read it, they didn't look at it, they didn't analyze it," said Brad Douglas, commissioner for Georgia's Department of Administrative Services, which is leading the change in thinking. "That price had no bearing on what the price could have been or should have been."
Georgia's buying process lacked strategy and information. The result was a procurement system from the Dark Ages. It left officials with no insight on who was buying what or from whom. But a revolution has been happening in the Peach State's procurement programs over the past three years. Officials are pushing order-takers to be strategists when buying, rather than simply awarding based on price alone. Read more...