ART - Supplier Dat 2008

The article discusses the use of proprietary supplier data by local public procurement practitioners in the United States. It highlights the perception of public procurement as a bureaucratic impediment and the need for practitioners to add value during lean times. The article suggests that practitioners should focus on knowledge and information, understand the needs of their agency-clients and the marketplace, and redefine their relationship with suppliers. Obtaining reliable information about suppliers is crucial, and this can be done through market analysis, personal experience, or the purchase of proprietary data. The article examines the extent to which localities in the US utilize proprietary information on suppliers and finds that only 29.5% of practitioners use this type of vendor data. It also notes that when practitioners do use proprietary data, they tend to rely on just one provider. The article concludes that proprietary vendor data is used by relatively few local and state governments in the US.