Image credit: Cato Institute
Whether you’re an American or Chinese citizen — or a resident of just about any other country for that matter — chances are more than likely that your government represents far and away the largest spender within your borders. Of course, as private sector professionals, when we think of procurement and sourcing we often think of dropping savings to the bottom line (and meeting the aggressive targets our bosses set for us). But in government, the entire concept of savings is a bit more nebulous. After all, if you achieve cost reduction on purchased goods, the amount you’ve saved quite often disappears from your budget allocation the following year, and in government, the less you have to spend, the less power you have. Fortunately for those who represent us in Washington, Beijing, New Delhi, and just about every other capital, there’s still an awful lot of spending going on, even if certain budgets aren’t surviving at current levels from one year to the next, thanks to the few savings-focused government employees who think like us…
