The Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative was established to provide analysis and access to a full array of purchase and pricing data, qualified suppliers, acquisition vehicles and expanded services, but a “category management” approach could further optimize the acquisition process, said the commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service recently.
Thomas Sharpe explained that GSA, with the support of OMB, is implementing a category management approach that “essentially looks at product or services categories the way a business might look at its own strategic business units, and then works on customizing purchase channels to better meet customer needs and market demands.”
With category management FAS is identifying core categories of business around which to develop higher level of expertise to direct and guide buyers to the best solutions (whether a GSA contract vehicle or otherwise), said Sharpe.
He said that once implemented, category management could streamline government purchasing into controlled categories such as IT, professional services or travel, helping to locate acquisition vehicles, suppliers, past transactions and prices-paid data.