Transformation for the future: Technology is helping entities rise to the challenges of a changing world

Governments and educational institutions are often behind the private sector when implementing change—particularly in the area of technology. However, with changing environmental needs, newly introduced products and solutions and more informed public, many entities are rising to the challenge and transforming through technology.

Creating the library of tomorrow
When desktop computers were first introduced, there were predictions of a paperless future and eventual demise of library systems. However, the opposite is true, where libraries across the nation are vibrant and evolving as never before. Such is the case with the James B. Hunt Jr. Library at North Carolina State University. Sitting on the Centennial campus, it blends corporate and academic research and serves as home to the fourth-largest engineering school in the country.

Within its 250,000 square feet grew the fruits of a collaborative effort designed to create a new kind of library, one that would serve companies and academia as a research facility. “A traditional library wouldn’t work because that wasn’t the main focus,” explains Maurice York, director of N.C. State’s IT department. “We had to figure out what a research facility meant in this day and age.”

While York and his staff understood IT elements quite well, the audio-visual (AV) world was new to them. They needed a partnership that would be flexible and open to the way they were willing to work with them. As a participant of OMNIA Partners, York and his team were able to utilize an already solicited and awarded cooperative contract to find a solution that best fit their needs.

In explaining the concept of the library, York describes it as a technology sandbox for the campus, one able to support rare and experimental technologies that could be shared among the colleges.

The audio-visual design was extremely complex, and AVI-SPL was brought in at the implementation level. Their engineers and technicians transformed multiple library spaces into collaboration areas, including teams’ rooms, an auditorium and conference rooms. In many areas, Christie Digital projectors provide the video with other solutions including cameras, speakers, microphone boxes, Sharp video displays and Cisco video conferencing—all to create spaces designed for ease of collaboration and presentation.

Areas like the auditorium and multipurpose area are used for lectures, watching live events and distance learning. The Gaming Lab gave a home to N.C. State’s gaming research program, one of the top 20 in the country. In the Creativity Studio, students and engineering faculty deliver presentations on surfaces like displays, the walls and floor. Everything—including the walls, projectors and displays—is moveable, and the design offers easy access to equipment.

“We designed to the cutting edge, with equipment that had just been announced. Put it in a 24/7 facility and you provide something that has an immense amount of value and redefines the library,” York said. By utilizing a cooperative contract, the university did not have to go through an arduous RFP process and reaped the benefits of nationally leveraged pricing to ensure the library upgrade was done for the best available price.

The Hunt Library has been profiled in numerous publications, including Time magazine. As one learns about each area of the library, the reason for its popularity quickly becomes clear—it is a versatile, empowering space. The IP-based system supports the research and mission of the building, which is to work as an integrated whole that supports the lifecycle of research: brainstorming, critiquing and the late phases that produce finished pieces.

“It’s a total industry changer and totally non-destructive,” says York. “To open the hardware, networking and interfaces, that was a radical idea. We’re not trying to train people how to use technology. We’re training engineers on building the next leading-edge technology.”

Modernization of fleet management
The past decade has seen transformative changes in the way fleet management is handled, mostly accredited to technology. The advent of fleet management software systems, telematics and predictive analytics have revolutionized the industry, providing higher levels of efficiency, transparency and control.

Most municipalities are under legislative mandates or internal timelines to join the electric vehicle (EV) trend. According to BCG (Boston Consulting Group), battery electric vehicles will account for 20 percent of all light vehicles sold globally in 2025 and 59 percent in 2035. Falling battery costs are expected to bring total cost of ownership (TCO) parity by 2024 to 2026 for many light-duty vehicle use-cases. Paralleling with this, 45 percent of respondents were looking to lower TCO, according to Element Fleet Management’s 2023 Market Pulse Survey.

While electric vehicles demand a price premium today over their internal combustion engine (ICE) equivalents due to high commodity prices, manufacturers are investing more than $500 billion into EVs in the next five to 10 years, accelerating innovation and efficiencies in production, leading to decreasing EV costs. Bill Collins, Element Fleet Management’s government sales director, shares two trends in the future of fleet management technology:

Anyone who has sat in an autonomous car for the first time is immediately struck by the lack of knobs and gauges on the dashboard, often replaced by a simple computer screen. This screen then operates all functions, everything from starting the car to choosing mapped routes, and then automatically driving down city streets. This technology is now venturing into the compact and heavy equipment industry as well.

All-electric and autonomous concept machines produce zero emissions and explore the idea of operating in locations that may not be suitable for traditional operation. For example, Bobcat is accelerating its innovations in the landscaping and ground maintenance arena with an autonomous mower. Designed to operate with software developed by Greenzie, the Bobcat ZT6200 zero-turn mower can operate manually, via remote control or autonomously. Operators can remotely operate the equipment via the smartphone app in various applications. Whether loading or unloading from a trailer or navigating the jobsite, the operator can leverage a compatible iOS device to maximize their needs, without having to sit in the seat.

Taking it a step further, the machine can autonomously mow within a plotted perimeter utilizing specialized mapping to execute the most efficient route that can be repeated, all of which can be managed or customized on a simple smartphone app. Upon detecting an object, such as a park bench or tree that intersects with the mower’s path, it can slow to a stop and alert the operator via the smartphone app. Just like the autonomous vacuum cleaner that moves around one’s home, this can be the future for maintaining city parks and playgrounds of the future.

Streamlining procurement process
Paper pushing is often a reference to mundane, repetitive tasks. Often used in a derogatory manner, it can also identify key areas that are ripe for automation. Such was the case for the city of Sioux Falls, S.D.’s procurement department with its annual processing of thousands of purchase orders. They became increasingly frustrated with the inefficiency of the city’s existing punchout system which was difficult to access and encompassed a cumbersome checkout process. It was easier for departments to send individual requisitions to procurement, rather than make purchases through the system they had in place.

As the largest city in South Dakota, the city pledged to invest city dollars into technology to improve their procurement processes. Purchasing Manager Scott Rust and Business Analyst Matt Newman knew a user-friendly platform was needed to make purchasing easier and eventually be embraced by city employees. They started by creating a list of features they surmised city departments would need and shared that list with city employees to ensure they were on the right track. “We listened to our end-users and wanted them to be in the driver’s seat,” said Rust. Besides end-user acceptance, it was also important the new system offered robust reporting capabilities.

The city of Sioux Falls ultimately decided to partner with EqualLevel, establishing an aggressive timeline for the roll-out of a marketplace using its pCard program for payment. Since the implementation of the program, the city has reduced the number of purchase orders to process. There has also been a reduction of maverick off-contract spend, and buyers no longer wait for procurement department approval before making purchases. “Having 600 plus requisitions out of our system has freed up procurement employees to do other things. With supply chain issues and federal money becoming available, procurement is not getting any less busy. It truly couldn’t have come at a better time,” said Rust.

With 250 active users, the city has achieved a 70 percent user acceptance rate, even better than anticipated. The ease of using the pCards through the marketplace has provided other benefits as well. “The rebate with our pCard program has grown exponentially through the increased use of the marketplace,” said Newman. “This further increases the product’s ROI.”

According to PlanetBids, a web-based eProcurement company, solicitations for well-defined goods and services have been run through eProcurement for some time. However, the transition of manual, paper-filled construction bid processes are beginning to move on-line. The benefits of having prime contractors being able to solicit for subcontractors on the same platform (GFE), acceptance of electronic signatures and eBonds, while tracking subcontractor payments during the contracting phases moves towards a streamlined approach.

Ria Diaz, director of client services for PlanetBids, shares, “For an agency that is still doing everything via paper, bringing in technology is a game changer. The savings in time and overhead really change the way procurement offices operate. Procurement can then focus on the real strategic initiatives, developing innovative projects and greater focus on customer needs. Time and time again I hear, ‘Wow, that was easy! Why’d we wait so long?’”

On the horizon
Procurated, a technology startup launched by former Pennsylvania chief procurement officer David Yarkin, has been nicknamed “Yelp for government procurement.” Based on peer reviews, it is used by public procurement professionals to find and vet new suppliers. With its growing use, Yarkin began consistently hearing from procurement leaders that they wanted to use the reviews platform for a different purpose.

“As we talked to hundreds of procurement officials, they shared a huge unmet need,” said Yarkin. “While tremendous resources are committed to the sourcing end of procurement, managing ongoing supplier performance was an afterthought. In the words of one state CPO, they’d say to suppliers, ‘Congratulations on your new contract. We’ll see you in five years.’”

Currently, procurement leaders recognize quarterly business reviews (QBR) as a best practice for gauging how well their suppliers perform for internal customers. But as is often the case in public procurement, they lacked adequate staff and the technology to conduct regular reviews.

To meet this need, Procurated released a new product in early 2024, known as Canary, with an audacious goal—to end poor performance by suppliers on contract. End users write reviews about suppliers and the software aggregates reviews into intuitive dashboards, allowing contract managers to instantly view how suppliers perform for every department. They can spotlight areas where suppliers’ performance has been poor, identify overall trends, and quickly showcase how suppliers’ performance has changed over time. Thanks to AI, the system can inform contract managers about recurring themes from the reviews, isolating any performance issues that need immediate resolution.

By leveraging this combination of feedback data and new, AI-driven technology, Canary simultaneously aims to make QBRs possible at scale, making frequent performance-related communications with suppliers possible. The new procurement technology category is called “Contract Performance Intelligence,” and it is an always-on, data-driven picture of performance accessible to procurement teams and suppliers to collaborate and meet challenges proactively, precisely as they arise.

“Canary is leading to a revolution in state procurement,” said Lottie Hooyer, director of vendor management at the Indiana Department of Administration. “We recognize that procurement exists for one reason—to serve our internal customers. But before Canary, we had little visibility into whether they were being well served. There could be a supplier problem that threatened their operations, and we wouldn’t know until it escalated into a crisis. But now, we know in minutes when there’s a problem and we can intervene with the supplier to address it early.”

While identifying major issues for procurement officials early, it is also informing suppliers of their own potential performance challenges that may be out of sight. “We are an extremely customer-focused company,” said Ben Nichols, group vice president, government and health care sales, Grainger. “With thousands of customers, it’s hard to know what is happening in every interaction. Now, in states that implement this type of technology, we will have more visibility, enabling us to provide even better service.”

Just as the canary in the coalmine saved the lives of miners from undetectable gases in the 20th century, Procurated’s Canary can save procurement teams from unseen performance problems that could cause 21st century catastrophes. With six states implementing this newly offered technology, procurement organizations are off to a fast start in eliminating poor performance by its contracted suppliers.

Tammy Rimes, MPA, is the executive director of the National Cooperative Procurement Partners (NCPP). She formally served as purchasing agent for the city of San Diego, the ninth largest city in the nation, and emergency logistics chief during the 2007 Witch Creek Fires. Under her leadership, the city consolidated its warehouse operations, centralized all purchasing and contracting operations, and moved to a more customer focused approach.

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the March 2024 issue of Government Procurement.