Governments around the world take an average of 22 months to finalise technology purchases due to ‘significant delays’, according to a study by Gartner.
According to the report, the technology buying cycle of public sector firms is longer as compared to other industries.
It noted that nearly half (48 percent) of government firms surveyed reported six or more moderate or significant delays in the buying process. The cumulative impact of delaying factors such as changes in scope added seven months, on average, to the government technology buying cycle.
“Technology acquisition brings challenges to the public sector that do not commonly exist in other industries,” said Dean Lacheca, VP Analyst at Gartner.
“Each jurisdiction has its own procurement laws and policies, and within that, each agency or department can have its own interpretation of them. A failure to conform to the rules can have serious consequences, from unwanted publicity to personal risk of prosecution.”
The report noted that a typical public sector buying team has 12 participants, with varying levels of participation in the process.
Government C-level executives tend to be less involved (41 percent) than private sector counterparts (55 percent) in technology purchases to avoid association with the process and creating the perception of political influence in the outcome. This also makes government C-level executives less willing to defend the process if challenged by unsuccessful vendors or the media.
Gartner also found that public sector buying teams are significantly more likely than other industries to be composed of lower-level operational staff (46 percent) impacted by the buying process, taking on the role of business subject matter expert.
“While the government equivalents of a C-level executive or executive governance body may have the authority to make the decision, they are heavily guided by the evaluation results and recommendations made by the subject matter experts,” said the report.
According to the study, most delays take place even before the official procurement process begins. These factors include developing the business case (74 percent), scope changes requiring additional research and evaluation (76 percent) and reaching agreement around budgeting (75 percent).
“While government buying cycles can be long, it is important to note that these time frames are not set,” said Lacheca. “Initial planned timelines can be delayed as a result of a combination of both controllable and uncontrollable factors, especially when no external deadlines exist.”
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Gartner also noted that 68 percent of public sector respondents indicate a moderate to significant delay because of their inability to obtain specific product or implementation requirements details from the provider.
Furthermore, it found that public sector organisations are significantly more likely to value references from existing clients than non-public sector buyers are, partly because public sector organisations are rarely in direct competition and often share common challenges.
“Chosen providers are much more likely to provide fact-based, actionable content to the buying team,” said the report. The analyst firm then recommended technology providers maintain an easily accessible list of public sector reference clients and build a diverse library of product collateral with a strong focus on value assessment, which can be leveraged across all stages of the buying cycle.
