Procurement is vital to the proper functioning of government. It ensures that each department has the goods, services, and infrastructure it needs to deliver essential public services, programs, and projects. But when the procurement team relies on manual processes, the workflow becomes challenging to navigate for several reasons:
- Legacy technology. The lack of integrated systems hampers efficiency, data visibility, and process automation.
- Multiple stakeholders. Managing the workflow requires coordination and communication among various departments, such as Finance, Legal, Contracting, and the Program Office, as well as external suppliers and contractors.
Diverse requirements. Each procurement category has its unique specifications, quality standards, and methods, necessitating tailored approaches and expertise in different domains.
Compliance issues. Government procurement is subject to a myriad of regulations, policies, and guidelines at the local, state, and federal levels.
Risk management. Government procurement carries inherent risks, including fraud, corruption, and conflicts of interest.
5 ways procurement automation can streamline your work
Procurement process automation can enhance every step of the process by streamlining tasks, reducing manual errors, improving efficiency, and increasing transparency. But where to implement automation first depends on your agency’s biggest pain points. Here are some top areas to automate procurement activities:
1. Requirements management
Automation can shorten the requirements gathering stage by standardizing data collection and ensuring that all necessary information is captured upfront. Automating market research with semantic search (see the ProcureSight tool) helps inform requirements. Automation can also automatically file documents, create documents from templates to minimize rekeying, and generate draft documents like a statement of work or RFI using AI.
2. Vendor management
There are many ways automation can improve vendor relationship management—such as sending templated messages, summarizing conversations with AI, and using AI to group similar vendor questions.
3. Bid evaluation
Automation can facilitate the evaluation process. Combining evaluator responses using AI and automatically creating a final consensus comment based on evaluator data not only saves time but also helps ensure fairness and transparency.
4. Contract management
Implementing automation for contract management can standardize contract creation, approval, and tracking processes, improving compliance, reducing the risk of contract disputes, and ensuring timely renewal and termination of contracts. Automated notifications ensure that key dates are met, keeping your acquisition on track.
5. Contract creation
Clause automation pulls together the clauses from contracts without a lot of manual work, and generative AI can help draft contract language.
Benefits of procurement automation
Efforts are underway in many jurisdictions to modernize the entire government procurement process through the adoption of digital technologies, such as eProcurement platforms, electronic signatures, and data analytics—although in many instances, such modernization efforts are thwarted by budget constraints.
While the initial investment may require budget allocation, procurement automation yields significant savings over time by leading to:
Fewer manual tasks, reducing human error and freeing employees to concentrate on more strategic business operations
Faster acquisition cycle times due to a simplified workflow with easy handoffs between stakeholders
Improved regulatory compliance, reducing the risk of audit findings, rework, and delays
Improved supplier management and relationships
Lower administrative costs
- Improved data visibility and analytics, allowing for better decision-making, optimized purchasing strategies, and cost-saving opportunities
Appian offers a suite of integrated solutions that modernize the end-to-end acquisition process with low-code and AI-powered process automation.
Elements to look for in procurement software
Two important characteristics of a procurement automation solution are integration and flexibility.
To automate your workflow end-to-end, you need a system that can unify your enterprise data, eliminating swivel-chairing between systems and improving collaboration.
Most procurement systems on the market can’t adapt as technology changes or your needs evolve. They are challenging to update, quickly becoming difficult to use and ultimately obsolete. Users are frustrated, hampered by slow decision-making and the burden of bureaucracy, despite having invested in technology that was supposed to help.
Look for a solution, like one built with low-code, that is fast and easy to configure to your requirements. Make sure it is adaptable to accommodate changing workflows or regulations and emerging technologies.
