“It takes money to make money”… even when “a penny saved is a penny earned” Profit-maximizing firms only invest in both revenue-generating and cost-cutting activities.  In most public sector organizations, however, money is made generally when it is not spent, but even doing that sometimes takes money.   Energy savings projects have traditionally been funded by: Grants Loans Tax Credits Other Incentives Two other vehicles have become very popular in recent years.  Let’s take a look at them.

With the current economic climate many organizations are searching for ways to reduce costs.  To achieve performance improvement while simultaneously reducing costs, an organization needs to take a thoughtful approach to the cost reduction measures and clearly communicate the vision of the program.  In the case of the Federal Government, effective cost-cutting measures need to go beyond simple across-the-board budget cuts.  Lasting structural changes need to be put in place in effort to change the effectiveness and efficiency of Federal Government processes.  This vision

A quick read through any newspaper can bring up some dismal facts about the state of our nation and the current geopolitical climate. Among these pressures, which include a soaring deficit, budget challenges, and high unemployment, is the issue of energy independence.  We are constantly bombarded with reasons why we need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil—and we should be—as it represents a positive step for our national security, our environment, and our bottom line.

In the past few blogs we’ve thrown a lot at you. Ultimately, we want to show you how these principles can be applied to government agencies. And, based on current government organization successes, and our own internal experience, we believe that these concepts can help government agencies get the most bang out of the taxpayer’s buck. So, how exactly can these concepts help government agencies?

Once you’ve made all these changes to your procurement organization and processes, you want them to last, right? The last principle of IBM’s Smarter Spending approach, “Control”, helps organizations sustain the value found in "Visibility" and secured by the "Leverage" techniques.

In our last post, we discussed the role of visibility and how it can help organizations identify and prioritize procurement transformation efforts.

What do we mean by “visibility?” Simply put, we have to first step back and take a look at the big picture to see, understand, and determine what’s actually going on. In short, we need to gain visibility and insight, which we can then use to develop action plans.

1.  Reform the contracting and buying systems.   Last year, President Obama and OMB directed agencies to change their approach to contracting by (1) increasing competition, (2) increasing the use of fixed-price contracts, (3) increasing the capacity of the contracting officer workforce, (4) revisiting the definition of “inherently governmental” work, and (5) revisiting the kinds of work contracted out, with a goal of reducing reliance on contractors by reducing total value of contracts by $40 billion a year.  These various steps were articulated in a ser

A new website, called “The U.S. Debt Clock” shows the different contributing factors to the rising federal deficit.