Gartner Insights Abstract

Profile of a Public-Sector Technology Buying Team

Published: 17 July 2024

Summary

Product leaders entering the public sector often grapple with the sector’s highly structured procurement processes and diverse buying teams. This research gives product leaders strategies to enhance the bid qualification by targeting buying teams’ subject matter expertise.

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Overview

Key Findings
  • Highly structured, rule-based and risk-averse procurement processes in the public sector often result in large buying teams with multiple stakeholders and influencers who have varying levels of participation in the process. The process’s integrity is often sacrosanct, sometimes at the expense of speed and outcomes.

  • Public-sector buying teams are significantly more likely to include operational or business subject matter experts, who have a deep knowledge of the business processes impacted by the acquisition of a new solution. They change the scope of contract requirements throughout the buying process.

  • Public-sector procurement represents a higher risk to providers than other industries. This

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