Original article published on Linkedin by Dustin Lanier, CPPO
(This article was also recorded as a podcast, give a listen here!)
What are five themes for Public Procurement in 2022?
If there is one thing I know, everyone will have a different five, but at least some of the five concepts in this article are likely in your five words as themes critical to the pivot that is coming this year.
Talent
I started giving a speech on how critical it is that procurement shops focus on attracting and retaining talent in the fall of the year and it is exactly as relevant now as it was the first time. During the “Great Realignment” - the epic job shifts that have been happening in the last year - individuals in every market sector are both looking at their work for meaning and making active decisions about their best way to have an impact. The need to look at our people as our central focus has never been more timely and more necessary. We must understand how our jobs look from each chair on our organizational chart, and be proactive in the management of our people as our highest priority focus.
We need to:
Attract talent to procurement as a target destination
Train people in a systematic way, so that their growth is our growth
Retain our people by making a growth path that keeps people interested and in the profession
Velocity
There is substantial pressure on procurement shops to manage the pure amount of procurement intake activities that need to move through the process. New projects with specific deadlines from ARPA and IIJA funding will all have high impact on procurement shops, and the traditional spend categories that were deprioritized during COVID which all likely need solicitation refresh. Tracking what is coming, how it will be assigned, what options are available to solve the need, being agile wherever possible, and maintaining air traffic control will affect all shops in 2022.
We need to:
Forecast demand through planning coordination with stakeholders
Analyze alternatives to solve the need, including agile solutions
Leverage trusted resources that can increase throughput while maintaining quality
Portfolio
One of the biggest differences between a transactional purchasing function and a strategic procurement organization is a portfolio mentality - thinking about our contracts as an overall portfolio that is carefully planned, expanded and optimized. Have we created master contracts that can be used more than once to solve problems for tomorrow? Are we diversified enough to navigate ongoing supply chain disruption issues? Does our supplier portfolio match our policy directives for DEI, sustainability and more? Does our cooperative contract portfolio allow us to focus on the most unique work?
We need to:
Assess where the current portfolio lacks capacity or alignment with principles
Design new approaches through market analysis
Engage the market with new solicitations that align with priorities and principles
Automation
Automation is a recurring priority for procurement - but it was never more amplified than in the pandemic era, as work from home and electronic bidding drove dramatic automation into procurement. The next waves of automation will extend automation further into strategic capacities for procurement – through improved data and reporting, requisition management, marketplaces and contract management tools.
We need to:
Solidify gains from electronic bidding initiatives
Define good processes that if automated would extend the power of the organization
Implement with priorities on early wins that demonstrate momentum and alignment
Leadership
The last two years put procurement in the spotlight as a consultative partner and a strategic asset. Leadership in public procurement is about creating value for a variety of stakeholders, including our teams, or executive and our business partners.
To pick up the themes in summary:
by being resourceful in managing throughput,
… and creating a portfolio mentality that improves the value of each touch from our team,
…and establishing automation that locks in effective processes
…and designing work that talent will want to fill,
…a procurement officer will be in a position to be a leader in government operations and validate their strategic role at the table.
