Purchasing reforms including category management have saved the government $2 billion since they were launched two years ago and will result in a total saving of $3.5 billion by the end of next year, OMB has said.
Prices the government pays for personal computers have dropped by as much as half by the end of 2016, 45 percent of the $1.1 billion spent in annual purchases for desktops and laptops will be consolidated into three government-wide contracts, and there are now 10,000 users on GSA’s Acquisition Gateway portal, it said.
“The proposed Category Management Circular aims to institutionalize the principles that are making the federal supply chain more effective, efficient, and streamlined. The Circular establishes the broader organizational vision needed to accelerate and successfully manage the many dimensions of interagency collaboration that must occur for the federal government to buy as one. It also expands upon the concepts of economy and efficiency in our earlier policies to establish the key principles, strategies, policies, processes, governance structure, and roles and responsibilities to implement category management fully as the principal way in which the government acquires and manages its common requirements,” a blog posting said.
The reforms have also spurred innovation in the federal marketplace through creation of the Digital IT acquisition professional training program, agency innovation labs and agency innovation advocates, and the TechFARHub, it said.