Procurement

How local governments can prepare for and maintain AI success

Strategic partnerships, thoughtful procurement and progress monitoring are valuable levers for local governments to deploy AI solutions in their communities, officials say.

Ohio schools turn to e-procurement amid education budget cuts

Digital procurement solutions are helping one Ohio school district purchase supplies with greater accuracy and efficiency amid statewide budget cuts.

Tech is changing the government procurement landscape, report says

Governments are exploring digital solutions to improve the procurement process, and, ultimately, the tech products they purchase, a new report says.

Lawmakers introduce bill to digitize government permitting

Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., called the paper-based permitting process “an archaic waste of time.”

How prenegotiated, cooperative procurement helps drive innovation for governments

The Texas Department of Information Resources is leveraging state-level procurement negotiations to help deliver innovative solutions to local public safety organizations.

Santa Monica, California, revamps procurement ‘bottleneck’

The city has turned to Glass to run a new e-commerce platform that allows staff to make quicker purchases, keep track of contracts and maintain more transparency into the process.

Improving spending efficiency to maximize results

COMMENTARY | How state and local governments can use technology to increase the efficiency of their grant and contract process, maximizing impact in a time of fiscal austerity.

Governments should prioritize agility in IT projects, expert says

Monolithic IT modernizations, according to U.S. Digital Response’s Waldo Jaquith, can increase a government’s risk of an IT project failure that requires even more time and resources to amend.

The changing face of procurement

COMMENTARY | Even before the Department of Government Efficiency took hold, state-level contracting was ripe for innovation. A lot more work lies ahead to modernize it.

Texas school district sees efficiency gains with e-procurement

At a time when shrinking budgets are impacting school closures in the state, the Arlington Independent School District has turned to tech to better manage spending.

Identifying and mitigating third-party IT risks

COMMENTARY | Transparency, accountability and collaboration with vendors can help agencies reduce the risks associated with third-party contracting.

Challenge-based procurement ‘just makes sense’

New York City is trying out a new approach to government procurement, whereby the city seeks solutions to its problems instead of prescribing them.

Whole-of-state program delivers security that’s ‘antivirus on steroids’

Woodbury, Minnesota, was one of the first cities to take advantage of the subsidized managed detection and response solution.

Generative AI steps up as a ‘facilitator’

The Texas Department of Public Safety now uses a generative AI-powered chatbot to streamline procurement. And Polco is rolling out a tool to connect city leaders with survey data so they can see how they stack up against others.

Lessons learned from whole-of-state cybersecurity efforts

More than two years into the federal cybersecurity grant program, state and local tech leaders say information sharing between the different levels of government is the most important aspect of the approach.

How the procurement process can help agencies acquire responsible AI

Buying artificial intelligence is not just about setting new policies to manage emerging technology, but applying tried-and-true processes, one expert says.

Whole-of-state procurement gives local agencies better pricing, expert advice

Initially used to extend cybersecurity throughout government, the whole-of-state concept is also being used to push training and software licensing contracts to local agencies.

When a vendor pays a mayor $13,000, is it a bribe? The U.S. Supreme Court will decide

A former Indiana mayor asked the high court to intervene in his corruption case and resolve a disparity in which “gratuities” from outsiders are considered OK in some courts, but not in others.

In unique approach, one county utilizes a P3 to build public schools

Instead of it taking six years to build six schools, it took three. The first-of-its-kind project saved Prince George’s County, Maryland, millions of dollars—and includes 30 years of maintenance.

How one state pushes cybersecurity to local agencies

Arizona’s whole-of-state cybersecurity program gives local governments free access to cloud-based cybersecurity tools—an approach that extends security and helps build a problem-solving community.