Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems have become an essential tool for complex organizations, but when it comes to procurement in the public sector, they aren’t enough.  As public procurement partners, we speak to many procurement professionals at public sector agencies, and we frequently hear one common refrain—that they feel imprisoned by their ERP. For many of them, their organizations have invested a lot of time and money in ERP systems that do many things well and are there to stay. But to make them work as general admin tools requires a lot of finessing and fitting square peg ..read more

Mitigating risk is one of the most important responsibilities an organization’s finance leader has. So why do so few pay close attention to procurement, an area bristling with risk? Can they trust that others in their organizations are looking after those risks, or is this a potentially dangerous blind spot for them? In this blog post, we’ll take a look at the risks inherent in public sector procurement and why finance leaders should care. Finally, we’ll show that it isn’t all doom and gloom by outlining some steps public sector finance leaders can take to assess and improve their agencies’ p ..read more

We recently chatted with seasoned procurement pros at our OntarioTalk event, and they had some great compliance advice that applies to all jurisdictions. Our panelists included: Hend Salem, Manager of Strategic Sourcing – Non Clinical at The Ottawa Hospital Carol Izzio, Director of Procurement at Sheridan College Christine McParland, Director of Residence and Ancillary Services at St. Lawrence College Luca Del Grosso, Manager of Procurement at Technical Standards and Safety Authority They all shared their experiences and what worked well in their agencies. Find the summary of their advice i ..read more

So you want to create a vendor diversity program. Where do you start? What pieces should you have in place for success? The most common thing preventing procurement teams from creating these initiatives is not having a starting point. Recently, we had the pleasure of sitting down with DeNita Lacking-Quinn (Supervisor at City of Dallas Procurement Services) and André McEwing (Supplier Diversity Manager at Tarrant County College) during our TexasTalk event to get their tips on creating an effective vendor diversity program. Keep reading to find the five key takeaways from this conversation or w ..read more

Public water utilities around the country are facing the monumental task of updating aging water systems. But trying to fund a persistent list of deferred and priority projects in an era of shrinking local government revenues, staff constraints, and heightened constituent sensitivity to rate increases makes for a challenging environment. There’s never been a better time to explore creative solutions for stretching budgets further and turning federal infrastructure funding into transformative investments in efficient and sustainable water management. This is a topic municipal finance expert an ..read more

Innovations shaping our future—that was the theme of this year’s NIGP Annual Forum hosted in Boston from August 21st to 24th. Getting together to share knowledge and experiences while tackling new challenges is something so fundamental to public procurement and we love to see the collaboration and passion for the profession at these events. This year, we’re celebrating the (usually unsung) superheroes in public procurement and, between our booth and the events we hosted, we were able to truly showcase those superpowers at the conference. We hosted our first ever Bonfire Procurement Awards rece ..read more

One of the most challenging parts of putting together an RFP is getting stakeholders involved in the build process without creating chaos. If you’ve ever had different document versions from multiple editors get stored in different locations, or you’ve experienced painful approval processes that take place through endless email chains, you know how frustrating and time-consuming that chaos can be. Eliminating that chaos reduces aggravation and waste, but also leads to happier stakeholders, more engaged vendors, and better solicitations that lead to better outcomes. With demands on public secto ..read more

Caribbean procurement departments face a lot of challenges that other countries typically do not. Whether it’s moving on from a complex custom eProcurement solution or stewarding public trust, there are many factors that Caribbean procurement leaders need to navigate to see success. Recently, we set up a panel discussion with Craig Milley, Principal Consultant at Wayfinder Consulting Inc., and Joe Fagan, an eProcurement consultant with many donor banks, who both work directly with Caribbean procurement departments. The aim of this event was to help Caribbean government agencies see sustainable ..read more

Whether the motivation is new legislation or funding requirements, increasing competition in your RFP responses, or supporting your community — there’s no wrong reason for public sector procurement teams to foster more diversity in their vendor pool. So how do you create vendor diversity initiatives in your organization? Many Bonfire clients have asked this question, so on May 12th we asked Sheena Fain from the City of Akron and Robert Tatum from the Cayman Islands Government to join us in a discussion of the topic. In this webinar, they tell us how they created successful vendor engagement an ..read more

All across the US, governments at the state, tribal, and local levels are wading through the enormous task of managing a combined $1.9 trillion in federal funding. The money, approved in March 2021 through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), is helping communities at all levels rebound from the detrimental impacts of Covid-19. But, as it turns out, managing and allocating the funds is no easy task. To help you navigate these opportunities and challenges, we reached out to two expert panelists: Joel Neavell, Director of Procurement for the Louisville Metro Government, and Ken Hillebrand, Deput ..read more