Top 10 Procurement Issues for Public Agencies

Is your organization getting the most from your procurement department? Public sector procurement has more demands to meet than other sectors - deliver products/projects on budget, to specifications, adhering to government policies and regulations, while delivering quality products/performance that will benefit its citizens. Purchasing is no longer considered a clerical function. Today, purchasing agents are subject to emerging technologies, increasing product diversity and choice, environmental concerns, and a new emphasis on quality and best value, not just lowest price. The top ten issues in the procure to pay cycle are:

• Insufficient outreach to vendors
• Lowering of bonding requirements
• Burdensome administrative requirements
• Insufficient segregation of procurement approval and receiving duties
• Lack of cross-department evaluation of vendor proposals
• Inconsistent management and designated authority levels
• Organizations are unaware of procurement process times - from start of requisition until vendors are paid
• Procurement activities are not aligned with overall organizational activities
• Too many sign offs/approvals

If any of these issues sound familiar, or your organization has not reviewed its procurement function in a while, you run the risk that your procurement strategies are inconsistent with organizational needs, which can result in paying higher prices for the goods and services required to run your agency, insufficient number of competitive bids, or worse, violating your grant or service agreements.

IntelliBridge Partners has the expertise to improve the procure to pay cycle through business process reviews, risk assessments, and performance audits. If you would like help with your procurement department, please contact Greg Matayoshi at gmatayoshi@intellibridgepartners.com.