Government Technology - August 2008 - (Page 29)

5 IN NUMBERS STRENGTH Just as several jurisdictions can save by sharing a common technology service, a single government can boost its purchasing power when different agencies buy technology through common contracts. When Levin became CTO of Los Angeles last year, she noticed the city had many contracts with technology vendors. “We’re not leveraging the pricing that we could be RANDI LEVIN “WE KNOW THERE IS A LOT OF MONEY OUT THERE TO BE SAVED.” Randi Levin, CTO, Los Angeles getting,” she said. “There’s a need to consolidate those contracts and really tap into the total buying power of the whole city.” To that end, ITA is taking stock of the technology contracts in place throughout city government. The agency is calculating the collective spend and projecting how much the city will spend on technology in the next two to three years. ITA is also examining various contract vehicles STRATEGY: STRATEGIC SOURCING WHO’S USING IT: LOS ANGELES WHY THEY’RE USING IT: LOS ANGELES IS WORKING TO CONSOLIDATE CONTRACTS TO STRATEGICALLY POOL THE CITY’S PURCHASING POWER AND COMMAND BETTER DEALS ON TECHNOLOGY PURCHASES. it can use — including contracts negotiated by the city, county, and in some cases, the federal government — to determine which ones offer the best rates. Then, city officials and vendors will explore how the city can obtain better volume discounts. “We sit down and have some discussions about moving to more enterprise licensing,” Levin said. As of late April, ITA had completed this process with two vendors and was working to do the same with six more, she said. Because it’s not easy to calculate the total amount agencies have spent in the past with individual vendors, Levin said she couldn’t predict how much money this process might shave off the city’s technology costs. “But we know there is a lot of money out there to be saved,” Levin said. Strategic sourcing is just one of several lines of attack ITA is pursuing to control costs as Los Angeles heads into a new fiscal year with a deficit of about $406 million. In another related strategy, ITA is examining the software applications in use throughout the city government and trying to reduce that number. “As you reduce the portfolio, you generally reduce the number of vendors, contractors or other parties that are involved,” Levin said. “By doing that, we would reduce our costs.” Take Public CIO Magazine’s Enterprise Systems Management Survey AND RECEIVE COMPLIMENTARY ACCESS TO THESE INDEPENDENT REPORTS: Forrester: Managing IT When Times Get Tough, March 2008 Forrester: Market Overview: The IT Management Software Market in 2008, March 2008 To participate go to: www.public-cio.com/enterprisesurvey 29 http://www.public-cio.com/enterprisesurvey

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Government Technology - August 2008 Contents Point of View The Last Mile Big Picture On the Scene Four Questions for... Net Gains A Government Technology® Industry Profile: CA CA Contents IT Network Management: State and Local Governments Face New Challenges MyFloridaNet Arkansas Department of Information Systems Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Government Tightens Its Belt Rocking the Vote High-Speed Portal Project On Track Wi-Fi on a Shoestring From Paintball to Video Virtually Vulnerable How It Works Products signal:noise

Government Technology - August 2008

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