Federal Spend Insights for Agency Leaders and Policymakers

Federal government spending priorities are rapidly evolving in response to COVID-19. From addressing supply chain bottlenecks to exploring additional sources of supply, federal agencies are encountering new challenges to mission execution as they navigate the complex landscape of COVID-19 relief and response efforts. In our latest report, we highlight key insights from the first two months of federal spending in response to the current crisis.

5 Key Insights for Agency Leaders and Policymakers on COVID-19 Response:

1. Rapidly Evolving Spend Priorities: While early spending in response to COVID-19 has been dominated by medical supply procurement by agencies on the front-line of the crisis, federal government spending priorities are expected to shift towards longer-term enablers as each agency executes the CARES Act.
2. Sharing Best Practices: As the crisis evolves and spending continues to grow across the federal government, agencies have the opportunity to learn acquisition best practices from early leaders in the federal response.
3. Managing Supply Chain Risk: An overreliance on a limited number of vendors introduces a risk for supply chain bottlenecks. In navigating additional sources of supply, federal leaders must ensure that vendors are reliable, qualified, and timely.
4. Engaging Small Businesses: Small business plays an essential role in meeting demand and kickstarting economic recovery. The federal government must address obstacles to small business participation and expand small business capacity to meet government needs.
5. Importance of High Quality Data: Office of Management and Budget guidance regarding COVID-19 spend data includes a lag and limited flexibility in data reporting. There is an opportunity to improve data quality through real-time reporting and flexible reporting options in order to use federal spend data to drive actionable, potentially life-saving insights.

In a webinar held on Thursday, May 7th with the government market research platform for procurement, Public Spend Forum, we engaged in an in-depth discussion on the key takeaways highlighted in this insight piece. Access the full webinar recording here: https://www.publicspendforum.net/events/webinar-federal-government-spend-on-covid-19-response/

For further information about the data and insights in the report, please contact 
Dr. Vinai Trichur Vtrichur@censeoconsulting.com Clara Cecil Ccecil@censeoconsulting.com