Streamline RFP creation with collaborative tools.
Remove paper and spreadsheets and bring your entire sourcing process online.
Drive better outcomes for your stakeholders.
Make it easy for suppliers and evaluators to work with procurement.
Protect your organization and your data with industry-leading security features.
Source faster and smarter with automated tools.
Tools built for compliance and transparency keep you protected.
Eliminate barriers for small and diverse vendors.
Join the Bonfire community to tap into shared resources.
Get an overview of the end-to-end Bonfire eProcurement Solution
Get to market faster with access to thousands of trending sample projects
Collect project requests, collaborate with stakeholders, and manage approvals
Store, manage, and collaborate on documents—all inside Bonfire
Save time with automatic RFx scoring and evaluations
Create bids, invite vendors, and get results quickly
Stay on top of milestones and vendor performance
Access award-winning coaching and support
Free access to tens of thousands of sample projects to get your next RFP started right.
Success stories from procurement professionals in the field.
Public procurement isn’t easy—have a laugh at the things that drive us all crazy.
Public procurement news and insights you don’t want to miss.
How-to’s, Bonfire success stories, and more.
Discover how you can purchase Bonfire through an affiliate or piggyback agreement.
Hear heroic stories from the frontlines of public procurement.
Check out our on-demand webinar catalogue.
A collection of our latest procurement reports, eBooks, and other resources.
Bonfire news—hot off the press.
Responsive customer support for all Bonfire clients. Find the answer to your question via phone, email, or our comprehensive self-serve knowledge base.
Additional product knowledge, support resources, and helpful tips to enhance your Bonfire experience.
Submit a reponse to any Bonfire portal for free.
Unlimited access to bid on thousands of public sector projects from across North America—all in one place.
The place where vendors can easily access online help, tips, and FAQs—24/7
September 1, 2021 | Bonfire Interactive
Have you noticed a shift? Public agencies are getting back to business in 2021 and procurement teams are feeling the pressure to post more bids and complete more projects this year. But COVID-19 has changed the world of procurement—possibly forever. What does that mean for how public procurement departments work, collaborate, and plan for the future?
Our 2021 State of Public Sourcing report is here to answer those questions and more with a deep dive into the Bonfire database. We analyze the key trends and challenges that are driving procurement priorities and strategies right now. Our analysis examines data from approximately 400 U.S. public organizations that use the Bonfire eProcurement platform, comparing metrics from 2019, 2020, and 2021 over a 6-month period (January through June) of each year.
Keep reading for the top three insights from this year’s analysis and be sure to download the full report for findings and guidance you can use to inform your procurement strategy.
If you work in public procurement, you don’t need us to tell you that project and RFP counts plummeted from 2019 to 2020. The pandemic forced you to put many plans on pause to address emerging priorities like sourcing PPE and setting up COVID-19 testing sites.
The good news? In 2021, we’re seeing a resurgence of projects verging on pre-pandemic numbers. This can be explained by a number of significant shifts, including a mass return to the office, continued stimulus funding from the American Rescue Plan, and Biden’s proposed $1.2 trillion infrastructure package—all of which are making it possible to pursue more complex projects.
Here are some of the key project-related trends that are impacting public agencies right now:
With projects and RFPs bouncing back to pre-pandemic numbers, it’s worth asking: are agencies going back to pre-pandemic ways of working too? When we look at the number of eProcurement users, the answer is clear. Times have changed. Public agencies are embracing digital transformation and rethinking procurement processes to incorporate streamlined, digital-first practices.
Here’s some key evidence of eProcurement’s continued growth:
Public agencies are shifting their strategies for a post-pandemic world. And one significant way they’re doing that is through their vendor pool. Bonfire data shows that agencies are widening their network by sending out more vendor invitations. And they’re also seeking out more diverse, local, and small businesses to partner with.
By tracking vendor diversity in Bonfire, buyers can quickly and easily gain increased visibility into the participation of diverse vendors, including small and medium-sized businesses and those owned by historically disadvantaged or marginalized groups. Diversifying and widening the vendor pool is a strategic move because it allows agencies to increase competition, mitigate supply chain issues (which continue to be a critical challenge during the pandemic), get the most value for taxpayer dollars, and support social procurement policies.
Our analysis uncovered these insights pointing to agencies’ increased attention to vendor diversity and relationships in 2021:
In 2020, public agencies pivoted to tackle emergency projects and keep their communities safe. Now, halfway through 2021, it’s clear that procurement teams are back to pre-pandemic levels of business—but it’s not business as usual. Agencies are advancing new priorities, strategies, and goals, and they’re planning for a world that looks a lot different than it did in 2019. The pandemic will continue to impact life for years to come, but our latest State of Public Sourcing report shows that public organizations are already integrating its lessons to plan for a better future.
Get more insights to help your public procurement team get back to business. Download The State of Public Sourcing: Fast and Focused.
Bonfire Interactive
Bonfire helps public procurement teams reach better sourcing outcomes through an experience that’s blazingly fast, powered by peer insights, and so easy to use—vendors love it just as much as buyers do.
Bonfire tip:
Discover how your peers are ramping up business in 2021.