Public Spend Forum: Market intelligence superheroes, barriers to entry and finding PPE suppliers

Public Spend Forum (PSF) is a public sector procurement global community and market intelligence platform dedicated to improving public buying everywhere. GovShop is its free-to-use global government market research tool for finding and connecting with suppliers. Here’s the latest from PSF:

Do you want to be a Market Intelligence Superhero?

Apply or nominate someone today… it’s free to enter. PSF facilitators will be selecting a select group of 25 participants to become part of the first class to learn 7MI (Market Intelligence). Participants will be either from government or industry and should be involved in acquisition and procurement in some manner, either as a program or on behalf of procurement. The first event takes place December 15, 202o from 11:00 am – 5:00 pm ET (GMT+5) but more spaces will become available for subsequent events. Participants will be interested in better acquisition outcomes and lower barriers to entry in the public sector and can learn from experts from across the government and industry to help steer them towards applying best practices from the 7MI framework. This virtual workshop will teach how to apply the 7MI essentials which lead to lower barriers for suppliers and increased market transparency. They also get exclusive access to the invaluable public sector market intelligence best practices and become part of the ever-growing elite GovShop alumni network. Applications closed on Dec. 1 but you can still submit and get notified early of the next opportunity. More information here: 7MI (Market Intelligence) Challenge.

Public Procurement Leaders Exchange: Barriers to Entry Survey findings & discussing solutions

The Public Procurement Leaders Exchange is a global initiative for public procurement and acquisition community leaders. Through the Leaders Exchange, Public Spend Forum is working actively with partners including Michigan State University, World Bank, and faculty from various universities including Harvard Kennedy School of Government, North Carolina State, and more.

Their goal is to provide a forum for leaders across federal, state, local governments as well as internationally to connect, exchange and learn public procurement best practices that can be applied within your organizations. The aim of the most recent meeting was to share initial findings in anticipation of the full report and discuss which challenges suppliers identified as key barriers to entry and to discuss insights provided by public agency leaders on how to improve practices to better identify and work with innovative suppliers. They were joined by Iris Cooper, Assistant Secretary for Office of Procurement, Contracts and Grants at the NC Department of Health and Human Services and Chris Benson, Acquisitions Officer, U.S. Air Force. Look out for discussion highlights and findings in our next PSF post.

GovShop Training and Demo: For Companies and Suppliers

The next GovShop training and demo session is happening early next year. Join to learn how to optimize your profile and get the most out of using GovShop to join up the right buyers with the right suppliers. Attend this session online on Jan. 14, 2021 3:00 ‒ 3:30 pm EST, there’s plenty of time to think about your GovCon questions too. Registration is available until Jan. 14.

Search the GovShop Directory of “verified” suppliers, products and contracts

The PSF team is collaborating with the Defense Joint Task Force, National Governor’s Association and various healthcare organizations to compile the largest FREE supply chain data set available. You can search for verified suppliers that have undergone vetting through PSF and its third-party partner organizations, and post requests or get help on the healthcare supply needs on our opportunities page.

The list of suppliers with available inventory and capacity relevant to the COVID-19 response is growing — if  you are a supplier, please update your information so it can be shared with government agencies seeking these critical supplies. Find and view supplier details here.

And in other news …

Public Spend Forum’s GovShop partners with Fandes and XPDEL to launch online PPE Marketplace

Clinical Staffing Services market procurement report, roadmap to recovery for businesses from impact of Covid-19 

AI4Cities launches its Request for Tenders

Socially Responsible Public Procurement – Case on gender equality

UK sourced PPE from factories secretly using North Korean slave labour

EU recommends Member States to leave IPR ownership in public procurements with contractors

Call for tender open: breakthrough AI solutions to make European cities climate neutral

How the UK public sector plans to make £1bn

The Internal Revenue Service moves to speed up contracting through new procurement research partnership

Demand for online public services has soared: it’s time we kept up

Citrix simplifies Public Sector Purchasing

UK Cabinet Office’s Construction Playbook outlines how it wants government and industry to work together on public projects in future

MSPs call for ‘overhaul’ of ferry procurement process

Military cuts of £1bn over next year, with Navy Reservists suspended for first time 

Thousands of ‘robot soldiers’ could be fighting in British army in near future, UK military chief says

UK to boost defense budget by £16.5 billion (U.S. $21.9 billion). Here’s who benefits — and who loses out

Ask Public Spend Forum

Contact support@publicspendforum.net if you’d like to understand more about public procurement, the effect of the pandemic, where to find suppliers for a specific category, or any other burning issue you have.

We’d also love to hear from you if you have a success story within your organization you’d like to share