Public Spend Forum: Meet the acquisition nerd and bureaucracy slayer — and other stories

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. Read more from PSF and GovShop founder Raj Sharma here: Working towards a more open and accessible public sector marketplace – for suppliers and buyers.

This week’s latest from PSF:

Director of Procurement at US Digital Service talks acquisitions and bureaucracy

In the latest episode of the Public Sector Heroes podcasts, episode 22, Frank McNally welcomes Florence Kasule, Director of Procurement at United States Digital Service and self-confessed ‘acquisition nerd and bureaucracy slayer.’

Kasule has held multiple contracting roles at different civilian and DoD agencies since entering the public sector. She is energized about procurement’s future and the expanding roles for anyone who wants to participate.

She shares her procurement journey, her enthusiasm for new projects and her genuine curiosity about the profession — it’s clear why she’s risen to her current position. One of the ways she keeps everything on track is her emphasis on the human connection. Having an authentic presence with her colleagues and everyone she meets in the government market, especially in an almost completely digital world, she understands the vitality of first being a human being, then a contracting professional. Listen to her story here.

How do you measure value in public procurement?

Join Public Spend Forum on Thursday, May 13, 2pm EST to share your insights and join the conversation on measuring public procurement value. Government leaders will be discussing Measuring Public Procurement Value and the steps you can take to enhance your performance measurement and deliver value throughout the procurement cycle.

Discussing how to access innovation while managing risk and compliance, what metrics should be the most consistently tracked and how to measure metrics to ensure you are generating valuable insights will be: Jack Pellegrino, Director of Purchasing & Contracting, County of San Diego; Director of CAPPO; NIGP, Paul Brennan, Director of Purchasing, Rockland County, Jarrod McAdoo, Senior Product Manager, Public Sector Ivalua and Raj Sharma, Founder of Public Spend Forum, who says:

“At Public Spend Forum, our frustration with existing procurement metrics frameworks led us to create one that was designed to meet the needs of modern procurement experts. As the product of two years of research, we invite you to join us for an engaging discussion highlighting the framework we’ve adopted to analyze public procurement value and how it can work for your needs.”

This is a free to attend event for you and your teams.  

Register here.

And in other news …

EU announces new powers to restrict takeover bids by foreign entities

Japanese companies to end use of Chinese drones over security concerns

Federal government leaders are looking to foster supply chain monitoring and cross-agency collaboration

Accessible technologies for the European public sector, legal grounds and what’s being done

EU readies response to Biden’s ‘Buy American’ pitch

Full list of private companies handed £30 bn of public money to assist in UK government’s Covid response

American Red Cross CPO shares how he crafts a ‘shared vision’ with his team and stakeholders

AI4Cities selects 41 suppliers to design solutions for its Pre-Commercial Procurement

Public procurement as a tool to realize gender equality

The cost of corruption in Europe — Up to €990 billion (£781.64 billion) lost annually

Welsh Government spending over £60,000 a year with Amazon and Uber, despite ethical procurement pledge

US among first foreign countries to join EU defence project, diplomats say

Better integration could save UK government £850k per service, minister claims

Dynamic UK public sector procurement system opens for electric vehicles

MEPs adopt Public Sector Loan Facility agreement, boosting green transition

Contact 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.

PSF would also love to hear from you if you have a success story within your organization you’d like to share. If you’d like to share your opinions or insight on a public-procurement-relevant issue please see the Guest Author Guidelines here.

Schedule a free GovShop demo

You can book a free consultation and demo to learn how to best leverage GovShop! You’ll learn how to build your market research skills and use GovShop to search across 2 million traditional and non-traditional suppliers, quickly generate lists and reports in minority and small businesses, and find contracts that match your needs.

Contact Frank McNally from the Government Success Team