4.1: Procurement
Improve procurement of products and services Other Information:
Improving government's procurement of products and services -- Governments have come under fire for paying too much for products
and services. Reducing the cost of government inputs (most of which are sourced from the private sector) is one of the main
levers for doing more with less. One way the US government has accelerated the procurement process and lowered procurement
costs is through its Challenge.gov platform, which has been used by more than 50 federal agencies to invite companies and
citizens to submit responses to "challenges" -- in effect, requests for proposals. The top submissions, as judged by the requesting
agency, are awarded a cash prize. The $10 million X Prize challenge supported by the Department of Energy yielded over $100
million in private investment. In response to the $50,000 Blue Button challenge, a company in just six weeks installed a function
that made personal health records downloadable from a system used by approximately 200,000 doctors. With Challenge.gov, the
government gets more people thinking about how to solve tough problems, and it pays only for solutions that work.
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