Using Artificial Intelligence to Transform Government

In hindsight, it is easy to identify Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone in the 1870s as an instrument of marvel, eventually connecting people worldwide. And of course, there is the internet, which, although it burst into the public realm less than 30 years ago, is a technology and service that few can envision living without, whether we understood that in the 1990s or not.

Ten Actions to Improve Inventory Management in Government: Lessons From VA Hospitals

The authors found five major challenges to improving inventory management in the public sector.

A Playbook for CIO-Enabled Innovation in the Federal Government

In the federal government, for example, agencies have begun to designate chief technology officers, chief innovation officers, chief data officers, entrepreneurs-in-residence, and similar roles to promote new approaches to innovation. But because many innovations are rooted in the use of technology, agency Chief Information Officers (CIOs) can play a strong role as well. Furthermore, the new Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act creates a statutory requirement for CIOs to help lead agency IT innovation efforts.

Beyond Business as Usual: Improving Defense Acquisition through Better Buying Power

On behalf of the IBM Center for The Business of Government, we are pleased to present this report, Beyond Business as Usual: Improving Defense Acquisition through Better Buying Power, by Zachary S Huitink and David M Van Slyke, Syracuse University.

Eight Actions to Improve Defense Acquisition

The authors present eight significant actions that the federal government can take to improve the federal acquisition process. While the report centers on acquisition in the Department of Defense (DoD) because of its dominant size in the federal budget, the eight proposed actions—which build on previous acquisition reforms including increased competition, more use of best value contracts, expanding the supplier base, and better tailoring of contract types to contract goals—apply to civilian agencies as well.

A Guide for Agency Leaders on Federal Acquisition

This report has been prepared to assist government executives in understanding one of the most complex bureaucratic processes in government: the federal procurement system. Understanding this system is one of the key ingredients to a successful tenure in government. In the past, some government executives have run into significant issues related to a lack of knowledge about federal contracting.

Controlling Federal Spending by Managing the Long Tail of Procurement

In this report, Professor Wyld provides the first quantitative analysis of tail spend in the federal government.  In short, tail spend is procurement outlays that are outside of an organization’s core spending and core supplier groups, covering many miscellaneous expenditure categories that are not managed as part of an organization’s core operations.

Forging Governmental Change: Lessons from Transformations Led by Robert Gates of DOD and Francis Collins of NIH

In Robert Gates, former secretary of defense, and Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, Professor Lambright has identified two outstanding government leaders who both led transformation initiatives in their organizations.

Improving Government Contracting: Lessons from Bid Protests of Department of Defense Source Selections

Government administrative processes often receive criticism for focusing on inputs and not outcomes. A specific example of this criticism has been registered by members of the acquisition community regarding source selection processes used for contracting that could be improved to reduce bid protests, the appellate process for contracting. Protests do not occur frequently, but when they do occur the costs are significant—and when sustained, they can impact the process for many subsequent contracts.

Reverse Auctioning: Saving Money and Increasing Transparency

Simply put, reverse auctions are auctions that enable sellers to “bid down” prices for their goods and services. The use of reverse auctions has substantially increased since Wyld’s initial report in 2000, albeit at a slower pace than anticipated in the earlier study. This new report contains original research on the potential of reverse auctions as a government cost-saving tool that also saves time and increases transparency.

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