Management Lab: Pew and Georgia Develop Cost-Saving Analytic Tool

Over the past year, the Pew Center on the States’ Management Lab worked with the state of Georgia to develop a cutting-edge analytic tool that enables state leaders to identify opportunities for cost-savings and cost-avoidance from among the billions of dollars Georgia spends on goods and services every year.

Launched on May 7, 2010, Georgia’s Spend Management Analytics tool is already providing state agencies with unprecedented insight into spending, including

• allowing the State Purchasing Division of the Department of Administrative Services to collect purchasing information from every agency and university, analyze it from every angle—buyer, supplier, category and cost—and identify opportunities to create purchasing efficiencies and statewide contracts;
  
  
• enabling Georgia, for the first time, to seamlessly refresh and generate histories of data across different systems, so that purchasing analysis stays current; and
  
  
• placing nearly one-third of Georgia’s state budget— an estimated $3.5 billion—under spend management.

In order to share Georgia’s success and drive procurement efficiencies nationwide, Pew and Georgia are making the manual available to other states’ procurement offices. To request a copy of the user manual, contact Katherine Briody, DOAS strategic support manager, at 404.656.1786 or katherine.briody@doas.ga.gov.

Read the May 7 press release (PDF) from Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue.