This year’s 2024 State of Public Procurement report from Euna Solutions highlights the rise of network-powered procurement, where procurement teams leverage peer resources, insights, and larger supplier networks to address some of the most significant challenges they face today.
“In our 2024 State of Public Procurement report, it’s evident that adopting end-to-end, network-powered procurement is not just a forward-thinking strategy but a necessity for modern procurement teams as they are tasked with doing more with less,” says Tom Amburgey, CEO at Euna Solutions. “By leveraging technology, public procurement teams can establish a powerful network that enhances supply chain efficiency, fosters knowledge sharing, and opens up co-procurement opportunities. The year’s report benchmarks the top issues at play and demonstrates how we, as a procurement community, can work together to tackle these challenges, adapt to changes, and improve public service delivery, ultimately helping our communities to thrive.”
Key takeaways:
- Staffing and capacity are top concerns. Complex processes and staffing shortages are the top internal challenges, with more than half (51%) of respondents stating they are not confident, little confident, or neutral in their ability to manage increasing project volumes, up from 46% in 2023.
- Survey respondents said the Top 2 external challenges they’re most concerned about are the rising costs of goods and services and unreliable supply chains. These issues are compounded by the looming fiscal cliff, which is the result of persistent deficits and growing debt that, if not addressed, can lead to abrupt, severe economic disruptions.
- Collaboration among procurement professionals is on the rise, with 54% of respondents engaging with peers on a monthly or weekly basis. Interest in peer insights and resources, specifically peer project templates, has surged by 265% since 2023. Procurement professionals find the most value in cooperative and piggyback contracts, peer RFx templates, and insights from other public procurement teams.
- New approaches to procurement can be explored to boost creativity and accountability. These include challenge-based procurement, where organizations define problems and invite suppliers to propose solutions, and outcome-based contracting, which focuses on results rather than processes.
- Teams using cooperative contracts can lower purchasing costs by up to 7.5% and reduce transportation costs by up to 55%.
- Comprehensive end-to-end solutions provide access to a vast network of suppliers, cooperative contracts, and peer resources. This approach creates a foundation for “network-powered procurement,” which leverages communities and shared resources among organizations to enhance efficiency, innovation, and cost-effectiveness in sourcing and supply chain management.
“Network-powered procurement is the future of public procurement,” says John Alexander, chief product officer at Euna Solutions. “Our report shows how it can mitigate risk, enhance outcomes, and enable procurement professionals to collaborate with each other. Network benefits can work to lessen a wide range of public sector procurement obstacles, such as managing rising costs and concerns about supply chain reliability, workforce efficiency and capacity. It can also help to build stronger supplier relationships, while improving the ability to source new suppliers and increase supplier diversity. By leveraging a network, procurement professionals can unlock new possibilities by connecting with individuals from other agencies, , leveraging their expertise, collaborating on challenges, or learning new ideas to increase both efficiency and effectiveness.”
