Buying right: getting procurement right in the digital age
Government purchasing has long been an important part of what they do, accounting for almost one-third of government expenditure.
Getting best value from this spending is vital at all times, but even more so at a time when government budgets are constrained as they are now. And digital transformation creates an opportunity to do just that. Data platforms create opportunities for governments to better monitor spending with suppliers, allowing them to drive value at contract renewals. Collaborative cross-government websites can allow procurement opportunities to be opened up to a wider range of suppliers, who can bring new ideas to service delivery. And technology can also be used by service providers to provide better, more integrated services for citizens.
This webinar looked at how governments can harness technology to make the most of government purchasing.
Join this webinar to find out:
- How digital tools and skills can be used to improve government procurement, from better understanding of spending to predictive analytics.
- How government and suppliers can work together to use technology to improve public service provision.
- How big data can better drive performance management across government services.
Panel
Laura Stanton, Assistant Commissioner, Office of Information Technology Category, Federal Acquisition Service (FAS), U.S. General Services Administration
Laura Stanton is the Assistant Commissioner for the Office of Information Technology Category (ITC), in GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service (FAS). The Federal Acquisition Service provides buying platforms and acquisition services to Federal, DoD, State, and Local governments for a broad range of items from office supplies and motor vehicles to information technology and telecommunications products and services. As an organization within FAS, ITC provides access to a wide range of commercial and custom IT products, services, and solutions.
As Assistant Commissioner, Laura manages the largest fee-for-service IT procurement and services operation in the U.S. government. Laura leads a highly-skilled and diverse workforce that manages more than 6,000 contracts, providing access to relevant and timely IT and telecommunications products, services, and solutions to defense and civilian agencies, as well as to state, local, and tribal governments. ITC facilitates nearly $34 billion in annual government spending and has provided nearly $2 billion in savings to its customers.
Before rising to lead ITC, Laura served as its Deputy Assistant Commissioner for Category Management, where she oversaw a portfolio of acquisition solutions including the Government-wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs) Alliant 2, VETS 2, 8(a) STARS II and III. In addition, her portfolio also included the Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) and the USAccess shared services programs. Laura’s guidance and oversight of the category teams helped ITC play a critical role in the Administration’s IT modernization efforts to drive a more efficient and effective government for the American people.
Matthew Browne, Deputy Director, Sourcing Policy, Government Commercial Function, Cabinet Office, United Kingdom
Matt is Deputy Director for Sourcing Policy in the Cabinet Office and has led the development of the Commercial Playbooks in recent years. The team is responsible for developing public sector procurement best practice to maximise value for money and deliver high quality services. Before that he spent a decade in HM Treasury, where he focussed on infrastructure investment, public spending control, and the financial services sector.
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Ser Huei, Chief of Government Procurement and Director, Government Procurement Function Office, Ministry of Finance, Singapore
Ser Huei is the Chief of Government Procurement and the Director of the Government Procurement Function Office (GPFO) of the Ministry of Finance, which oversees the whole-of-government procurement function. GPFO is responsible for developing and overseeing policies on government procurement, whole-of-government procurement system and workforce development for the public sector procurement community. He is concurrently the Executive Director of the Centre for Public Project Management, which works with public agencies to ensure that major public infrastructure projects are efficiently designed and value-for-money.
Matthieu Cahen, Senior Policy Analyst, Public Governance Directorate, OECD
Matthieu Cahen currently works as a senior policy analyst specialised in public procurement and infrastructure delivery in the Public Governance Directorate of the OECD. He works on several projects in different regions of the world, including on the effective delivery of large infrastructure, the implementation of a strategic approach to public procurement or the impacts of public procurement on productivity through selected case studies with Finland, Chile, New Zealand and Ireland. Prior to this, he was heading the Procurement and Advisory Unit in OECD’s Central Purchasing Group where he was responsible for managing procurement for the OECD. In doing so, he promoted procurement as a strategic tool to support decision-making process, implemented Key Performance Indicators measuring procurement performance and introduced a Multi-Year Purchasing Plan. Previous to this, he was a Legal Advisor at the OECD where he negotiated contracts and provided advice on procurement-related issues. Between 2003 and 2005, M. Cahen worked in the French law firm Gide-Loyrette-Nouel. Matthieu holds an Executive Master in International Negotiations and Policy-Making form the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland and a Master of Laws from the University Panthéon-Assas in Paris, France.
Kevin Cunnington, Former Director General, Government Digital Service (GDS), United Kingdom, and Executive Advisor, Global Government Forum
Kevin was Director General of the International Government Service and Digital Envoy for the UK from August 2019, until April 2021. Prior to that, he was the Director General of the Government Digital Service from August 2016 to July 2019. Kevin left the UK Civil Service in April 2021.
Kevin has led a variety of large scale, and global, digital transformation programmes. He spent his early career in programming and IT consultancy. More recently he was the Global Head of Online for Vodafone Group and Business Transformation Group Director General at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Kevin now advises Global Government Forum, and leads the Global Government Digital Leaders’ Study.
Webinar chair: Siobhan Benita, Facilitator, Global Government Forum
Siobhan Benita was a senior civil servant with over 15 years’ Whitehall experience. She worked in many of the major delivery departments, including Transport, Environment, Health and Local Government. She also had senior roles at the heart of Government in the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury, including supporting the then Cabinet Secretary, Lord O’Donnell to lead work on Civil Service reform and strategy. Siobhan left the Civil Service to run as an independent candidate in the Mayor of London election. She subsequently joined her alma mater, Warwick University as Chief Strategy Officer of Warwick in London and Co-Director of the Warwick Policy Lab.
