According to the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO), “spending from states’ own funds increased at the highest annual growth rate since the last recession,” with IT spend continuing to be one of the largest growth categories as we’ve previously discussed here on the blog.
Yet, upon further analysis of the government technology spending breakdown, we learned that Health and Human Services agencies and Education institutes are expected to spend a whopping $28 billion each during the current fiscal year on technology alone. Or, at least, they were.
Given the recent developments surrounding COVID-19, we have already seen the number of bid postings increase for laptops, tablets and other technology devices by school districts preparing to facilitate remote, or online, classes for learning continuity. Of course, healthcare providers in both acute and non-acute settings are also ramping up tech buys in line with labor expansion efforts. More doctors, nurses and support staff will likely be assigned to each shift to support increased patient volumes and support heightened testing and treatment efforts.
At the same time, ancillary agencies within the Health and Human Services sector are hiring contractors and other temporary staff to aid with screenings, compliance checks, wellness support and more both in public spaces and in private residences. Each needs a way to communicate in real time with other team members and partner agencies to coordinate care and support. As such, smartphones, tablet and even mobile printers that can produce labels for patient and specimen ID will likely be in high demand in the near future along with more traditional medical supplies.
Group purchasing organizations (GPO) such as MMCAP Infuse, along with states, cities, counties and school districts, will likely look to their vendors with pre-negotiated pricing/contracts and those who they know can quickly fulfill orders first. (Just one more reason why you might want to prioritize the pursuit of an “open” contract.) However, we have all heard about the growing number of supply chain disruptions occurring worldwide. It is very possible that public sector entities at all levels will post new public solicitations in the coming weeks and months to fulfill demand for the technologies and other goods they need to support their response to public emergencies, such as COVID-19, as well routine operations.
We strongly recommend that you sign up now for daily bid alerts from BidSync so that you are in the know about the latest government needs. Response turnaround windows will likely be short for emergency-related solicitations, so you’ll want to take advantage of the extra time you gain from these near-real time bid notifications. Plus, they will give you visibility into opportunities across the entire U.S. and even in Canada. It is quite possible that public sector entities will have to source outside their local area depending on the number of private sector business disruptions and subsequent supply availability of vendors.
As always, feel free to contact our Support team if you need help adjusting your profile settings in BidSync. We want to ensure the Relevance Engine results from our 100,000+ agency database are in line with your current government sales strategy and goods/services fulfillment capabilities.