CURING PROCUREMENT: A report (PDF) from the Center for Reinventing Public Education dives into how districts can create more agile and innovation-friendly procurement systems. Through interviews with leaders in six large urban districts including Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Chicago, the report identifies six major problems, such as 100-page RFPs, a risk-adverse culture, and emphasis on centralized purchasing.
The report explores how other government agencies, such as the Department of Defense, has attempted to streamline procurement processes--and what school districts can learn. It suggests three major moves that districts can make, starting with encouraging tighter collaboration between end-users, decision makers and suppliers. Entrepreneurs should be pleased that the report also suggests cutting back on the number of "checkpoints" where much of the idling and waiting for approval happens.
