Whole-of-state procurement gives local agencies better pricing, expert advice
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Connecting state and local government leaders
Initially used to extend cybersecurity throughout government, the whole-of-state concept is also being used to push training and software licensing contracts to local agencies.
When cities want to improve the efficiency of their rail transit, expand Wi-Fi in public parks or model taxes and subsidies for micromobility services, they consult with experts and buy specialized software. But municipalities also purchase plenty of more common tech services like email security, data storage space, authentication tools and user training. In those instances, a whole-of-state procurement approach can be beneficial.
With whole-of-state procurement, local governments take advantage of contracts organized at the state level. It’s similar to the federal government’s Better Contracting Initiative, which takes an enterprise approach to procuring common goods and services. Through that effort, the White House says the government has avoided $90 billion in costs since fiscal 2016.
“When you can consolidate a purchase, you get better terms, you get better prices, and it’s really a way to maximize that effectiveness and efficiency of those purchases,” said Zac Christensen, deputy chief cooperative procurement officer on the NASPO ValuePoint team, the contracting arm of the National Association of State Procurement Officers.
But benefits go beyond pricing. Whole-of-state procurement also levels the playing field for buyers. Many localities don’t have an IT expert on staff to help make informed purchases, let alone a cybersecurity specialist, said Meredith Ward, deputy executive director of the National Association of State Chief Information Officers. By working with the state, those smaller governments can still get what they need.
For example, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Technology Services and Security announced last year a plan to procure licenses for training, phishing drills and other security-related exercises for localities that get funding through its Municipal Cybersecurity Awareness Grant Program.
Leah McGrath is executive director of StateRAMP, an organization that provides security maturity assessments to certify cloud-based services for state and local government use. She said her organization is starting to have more conversations with state governments around facilitating procurement for K-12 public schools. StateRAMP wants to “help ensure that the policies enacted at the state level are reflected at the local level,” McGrath said. “We are trying to help be that bridge between the entities and organizations.”
The whole-of-state idea got its start with cybersecurity, but could apply to other areas, too. Software licensing is one with promise, Ward said. Although still tied to security, she pointed to how the Pennsylvania Office of Administration worked with the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania to provide counties with licenses for a third-party security training and testing service. That coordinated training initiative has brought a cost savings of up to 50% to the state.
Pennsylvania was also able to provide the counties with memberships to the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center and the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center, communities of state and local officials that work to improve cybersecurity.
A whole-of-state approach has benefits for vendors too, McGrath said. Taking a regional approach to program and technology requirements makes it easier for companies to meet them, which facilitates more partnerships.
“[It] can be a win for the public-sector community, it’s a win for the suppliers who are trying to serve them, and it’s a win for the constituents when we can drive toward more standardization for best practices and even the procurement process itself,” she said.
Interest in using whole-of-state procurement approaches is increasing, Christensen said, but he had some cautions for local government buyers.
“One of the things to be wary of is … groupthink,” he said. “Make sure that you’ve got staff who are thinking critically, who are looking out for the interests of their organizations, to make sure that they are able to provide that best solution, whatever it may be for those organizations, and not to just defer to what may be the easiest.”
Another sticky issue can be jurisdiction. Ward said she’s heard states say this procurement approach is outside their scope, while localities have accused states that use it of encroaching on their autonomy. “What I’ve found is that states don’t have the resources, much less want to completely take over,” she said. “It’s more about information sharing and resource sharing. The state has … a master contract and the locals want to buy off of it. It can be extremely beneficial on both ends.”
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