The White House Office of Management and Budget released a draft Category Management Circular, which will enable agencies to make purchases as a group rather than as an individual agency.
“The proposed Category Management Circular aims to institutionalize the principles that are making the Federal supply chain more effective, efficient, and streamlined,” said Anne Rung, who recently left her job as U.S. chief acquisition officer. “The Circular establishes the broader organizational vision needed to accelerate and successfully manage the many dimensions of interagency collaboration that must occur for the Federal government to buy as one.”
In the past two years, the government has saved more than $2 billion by using category management and is projected to save $3.5 billion by the end of next year.
Rung worked to change the Federal marketplace through category management, innovation, and strong relationships with vendors, before she left the Federal government on Friday to work for Amazon Business. The Federal government appointed 10 category managers and 350 supporting team members, who created policies that help process the $8 billion in annual spending for IT software, hardware, and mobile services and devices.
“The progress to date has made significant headway in making the acquisition of common goods and services more efficient and reducing duplication and fragmentation in government purchasing,” Rung said. “And by leveraging our posture as the world’s largest buyer, we’ve also been able to send a clear and convincing market signal that we’re committed to achieving our socio-economic goals.”
The Federal government has used its supply chain to impose regulations to protect LGBT rights, enforce fair pay and safe workplaces, create a minimum wage, work to prevent human trafficking, include small businesses in Federal contracting, and strengthen environmental stewardship, according to Rung.
“The progress we’ve seen to date makes a very strong case for the benefits of category management, and we remain committed to institutionalizing this proven and effective practice so it continues to benefit Americans,” Rung said.
