Procurement as public service

Procurement reform is a commonly-cited obstacle to adoption of urban tech in city government. Often, it is difficult to source the best solutions in a timely and cost-effective way because of outdated protocols. However, existing practices have remained stubbornly persistent. Procurement by local governments has been "[t]oo long confined to a mission of cost savings and compliance". Going forward, though, procurement "has the potential to become a significant catalyst of change."

That's the argument of a report from the Chicago Council of Global Affairs, which argues that cities should "reimagine procurement as a public service" to drive innovation. Doing so involves six strategic measures—creating a vision, realigning the mission for procurement, refreshing the supplier pool, using open data, empowering staff, and making targeted investments to reinforce all of these moves. The benefits include more than 15 percent cost savings, greater participation by women- and minority-owned businesses, more innovation, and diversification of supply chains.

This report points towards a growing unrest among policymakers for change, and suggests that paths towards large-scale procurement reform are taking shape and could bring about a rapid improvement in cities' ability to source urban tech.