BetterBuy is changing the way acquisition happens, get online and follow them!
Christopher Dorobek of Federal News Radio moderated a panel that focused on how to use collaborative technology to improve procurement. There have infinite conferences regarding procurement, so talking about it isn’t new, but the BetterBuy Project, a platform that enables the public to submit, comment, and vote on ideas is a new day in federal procurement. The GSA is a strong part of this initiative, having put forth ideas on two different procurements.
Chris Hamm, Operations Director for GSA FEDSIM, operates a fee for service GSA business. One of the things that he does is ensure to treat every bidder fairly. The beginning of BetterBuy was a wiki that enables people to get together. Utilizing a wiki enables transparency that is new to the procurement cycle. The wiki enables anyone to respond (and anyone to see responses). Moderators then remove responses which are not appropriate. They are finding that the wiki forces the government to become more collaborative in of itself, which provides them with more communication regarding competing bids and ideas.
This site had 5,500 visits during April, of which 5% were international. Users had to register with real id’s to post, but there still was some span they had to struggle against. To launch the site, there was a good amount of press and public relations work to ensure that they got industry buy in. During the procurement, a large amount of twitter updates were sent out when they saw changing behaviors.
One benefit has been the ability to tweet as the acquisition cycle proceeds. This can help alleviate industry concerns and keep them updated as the process continues. One of the situations that they are finding is it’s hard to define roles. Who is supposed to respond to everything on the wiki?
The BetterBuy initiative is one that is already changing procurement. It is making the process more transparent while encouraging collaboration. As the BetterBuy initiative is adopted for more and more procurement options it will grow in strength, breadth, and cognizance.
Check out BetterBuy here or here
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