NIGP – The Institute for Public Procurement Announces Results of 2011 Survey on the Use of Procurement Software in the Public Sector

HERNDON, Va. & CARY, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NIGP: The Institute for Public Procurement, a not-for-profit association that develops, supports and promotes the public procurement profession, today announced the results of the 2011 Survey on the Use of Procurement Software in the Public Sector. Supported by NIGP’s research partners SciQuest, Inc. (NASDAQ: SQI) and Deltek, the survey aims to understand the use of procurement software throughout public agencies.

“There is a big difference in how small agencies use software and how large agencies use software. However, they all need to follow the same processes and tend to look at technology as an opportunity”

The survey, which was conducted online and through email, targeted the heads of procurement at all levels of government throughout the United States and Canada. Survey participants work in city, county and state governments, as well as public universities and K-12 district schools. The survey, which is intended to be repeated in the future, provides a benchmark for measuring changes and growth in the adoption of procurement software.

Timothy Brett, director, State and Local Information Services from Deltek and part of the core research team, is delighted with the response. “We had 499 responses out of a database of about 3500 NIGP members. The data received is therefore a good sampling and benchmark for the overall public sector market,” said Brett.

Highlights of the survey include some surprising results:

Under-automation is still prevalent: 22 percent of those surveyed, even the larger entities, do not use procurement software of any kind;
Investments have not been made recently (only 12 percent of the systems is less than three years old), but many entities are planning to invest: about 1/3 of the entities are looking to invest in technology today; and
Only a small percentage of the install base is using newer SaaS or cloud-based technology, with eSourcing and Marketplace technologies leading the way.

“As part of the survey, the research team is proposing the ‘Procurement Software Adoption Framework.’ This framework is designed to measure how ‘automated’ the organization is today and to support public agencies in determining the next step in their investments to improve their technology infrastructure,” said Cliff McCue, Ph.D., associate professor of Public Procurement Research at Florida Atlantic University. “It is very difficult to make investments in this economy, but I see a shift in the importance of procurement as a solution for budget challenges in general. It is clear that more public entities are looking to realize the benefits of procurement software.”

“There is a big difference in how small agencies use software and how large agencies use software. However, they all need to follow the same processes and tend to look at technology as an opportunity,” said Eric Zoetmulder, market director, public sector, SciQuest, Inc. and a primary research partner of the NIGP. “Our hope is that the results of the survey will serve as a guide for organizations looking to improve their technology solutions and a wake-up call for our political leaders to realize that investments in procurement are needed and will pay off with significant savings.”

A full report on the survey results can be found at http://www.nigp.org/epro2011.

The survey results will be featured in a webinar on October 25, 2011 from 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time. For more information, please visit: www.nigp.org/epro2011webinar.

For more information about Deltek, please visit www.deltek.com. To learn more about the NIGP organization and its member services, please visit www.nigp.org. For more information about SciQuest, please visit www.sciquest.com.

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