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Public Spend Forum: The Starter Program launches; Addressing inequality in traffic congestion

09/17/2021 By

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.

And take a look at this LinkedIn post from Raj to get a feel for why he cares so much about Open Government Markets.

This week’s latest from PSF:

The Starter Program — Grow your government business with GovShop and GovCon Club

GovShop, the AI-enabled market intelligence platform and ecosystem for public sector market buyers and suppliers, has partnered with GovCon Club, a federal contracting-focused community providing curated education, training and networking programs to individuals and organizations, to launch The Starter Program where you can access their combined powers to propel your government market business.

This is a subscription-based membership club (very reasonably prices at just $25 month) to help start-ups and emerging diverse/underrepresented companies deliver their solutions and impact to government agencies as well as large leading companies. Through a combination of AI-enabled market intelligence (for both buyers and suppliers), brand amplification capabilities and expert coaching, this Starter membership is a substantive first step for newcomers, and a definitive next step for entrepreneurs and firms already pursuing government contracts and subcontracts.

This membership opens participants up to:

  • an ecosystem of individuals from small and large companies
  • representatives from over 250 local, state and federal government agencies
  • the expertise of individuals from Government and industry
  • training and knowledge resources not typically available to small businesses
  • AI-enabled market intelligence to increase transparency into government opportunities
  • deep knowledge of traditional and non-traditional procurement methods and beyond best practices for business development processes

Learn more here and apply for membership here.

Using data and tech to address inequality in traffic congestion

Have you considered that traffic congestion disproportionately impacts low-income communities and communities of color? This article, written by Tiasia O’Brien, Founder of co:census by Seam Social Labs, explores how congestion affects everyone, but disproportionately impacts low-income communities and communities of color. This is because they are more likely to take the bus, live in areas with higher rates of traffic collisions and polluted air, and spend more of their income on public transportation. co:census simplifies collecting and analysing qualitative data, and uses data and technology to publish cities’ qualitative datasets in the Open Data Portals to increase ethical and equitable data. It is part of Public Spend Forum’s GovMarket Growth Program, as well as Public Spend Forum and Shatter Fund’s Women-Led Tech Accelerator Cohort. 

Read more here.

Innovation Tech Showcase

The ongoing GovShop Tech Pitch Showcase features 4 powerhouse entrepreneurs speed pitching their innovative tech products to government agencies in just 5 minutes.

Any Government official interested in lowering barriers to entry for emerging suppliers and who want to hear about innovative solutions for their department’s projects, will benefit from this short, sharp session. Equally, any company/supplier/vendor that wants to learn from peers about what makes a killer GovMarket tech pitch, will find this is 25 minutes very well spent.

The Tech Pitch Showcase is a no-cost platform for emerging and diverse companies to help them stand out in the GovMarket. Learn more and apply to present a pitch, here.

And in other news … 

Ahead of COP26, World Green Building Council launches update to the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment

Open source software boosted the EU economy by ‘between €65 to €95bn’ – report

India — Army aircraft to be manufactured by private company for the first time

UK firms ‘set to miss 2050 net zero target’

Using AI and machine learning to reduce government fraud — a report from The Brookings Institution’s Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology (AIET) Initiative 

UK Defence procurement slammed as ‘broken’

US — Agencies will need to start taking emissions into procurement decisions

UK — construction firms urged to attend emergency materials shortages summit

Government backs entrepreneurs across the UK with £600 million of Start-Up Loans outside London

Scotland’s public bodies hit by dozens of cyber attacks

More than 4,300 complaints received by Welsh Local Authorities in Q1 21

Turkish medical suppliers seek $770 million from government

UK National Highways announces multi-billion-pound road renewals programme framework

 

Interesting and useful material:

The GovShop Small Business Resource Center (SBRC) — is a one-stop-shop containing anything a small business would need to know to navigate public procurement in the United States, and beyond.

The 7 Principles for GovMarket Growth can be downloaded for free.

Meet Jack for a free GovShop demo

If you’d like to meet Jack from the GovShop customer success team, you can book a free consultation and demo to learn how to optimize your profile and get the most out of GovShop, the free government buyer/supplier matching and shortlisting database. From claiming your supplier profile and optimizing your keywords, to standing out in a crowded market and building your sales pipeline, email Jack to help.

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.