New York City will work with with SmartProcure, a national repository of 58 million purchase orders from more than 2,200 federal, state, and local government agencies, to reduce procurement costs and foster better purchasing decisions, city Comptroller John Liu said.
According to Ari Hoffnung, deputy comptroller of budget and public affairs, the city could save more than $100 million annually if better procurement data reduces the city’s $11 billion contracts budget by merely 1%.
“This is one of the many ways that 'Big Data’ can help make local governments more efficient,” Hoffnung said in a Sept. 24 announcement.
The partnership will give each of the city’s more than 100 agency chief contracting officers access to government purchasing information nationwide. City agencies previously lacked such access.
SmartProcure improves procurement intelligence through information sharing, and connects thousands of local, state, and federal agencies to government contractors in order to determine market opportunities, product trends, and competitive intelligence. SmartProcure provides all participating government agencies with access to the government purchase database at no cost.
Moody’s Investors Service rates the city’s general obligation bonds Aa2, while Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s assign AA ratings.
