Georgia, Pew Center Partner Creating Innovative Tool that Will Assist Management of State Spending

ATLANTA – Trying to get a handle on the billions of dollars paid for thousands of items that state governments buy every year is a worthy goal. In Georgia, such purchases consume billions in state budget, but identifying where the dollars actually go has been beyond existing accounting technology.

So Georgia invented a better mousetrap. In partnership with the Pew Center on the States, the Department of Administrative Services (DOAS) – State Purchasing Division is creating a “Spend Management Analytics” tool. The revolutionary aspect of the system will be its ability to collect and analyze purchasing information from every agency and university from every angle — buyer, supplier, category and cost. The data will allow State Purchasing to go to the sellers’ market better positioned to find purchasing economies and new statewide contract opportunities.

Georgia’s joint effort with Pew will for the first time seamlessly refresh and generate histories of data across different systems, so that purchasing analysis stays current. The tool can combine data from the three different financial systems that currently individually track purchases by Georgia’s 86 state agencies and 35 academic institutions — all of which means the State of Georgia will have an estimated $3.5 billion in spend under management.

Next steps of the project involve passing along the innovations of this project to state governments nationwide. Spend Management Analytics is the latest chapter in Georgia’s efforts to overhaul purchasing practices and technology in the state, and in today’s tough economic times, there is national need for this kind of efficiency as well.

Governor Sonny Perdue spoke positively of the project, saying, “I anticipate Georgia’s spend cube will eventually help lower costs and provide more value for our taxpayers. I appreciate Pew for their partnership as we continue to employ sound business management practices to improve the state’s financial health.”

Echoing the Governor’s comments, DOAS Commissioner Brad Douglas said, “Getting a handle on Georgia’s enterprise spend is a major undertaking, an important step in the transformation of purchasing in this state and nationwide. We are honored that with Pew’s technical assistance and matching funds, we are able to break new ground in the analysis of state spend and in a way that will allow us to discover statewide efficiencies for the benefit of all Georgia taxpayers.”

Visit the Spend Management Analytics Web page at www.spendanalytix.com.

The Department of Administrative Services is the business solutions arm of state government that provides consultative and reliable, value-added products and services to state of Georgia agencies, colleges and universities. A “customer focused, performance driven” organization, DOAS seeks to help state entities avoid redundant costs by supplying the administrative assistance needed to focus on their other mission-related business. Services include centralized state purchasing and associated training, management of the state’s fleet, risk management and the redistribution and disposal of state personal property.

The Pew Center on the States is a division of The Pew Charitable Trusts that identifies and advances effective solutions to critical issues facing states. Pew is a nonprofit organization that applies a rigorous, analytical approach to improve public policy, inform the public and stimulate civic life. Find out more about Pew Center on the States at www.pewcenteronthestates.org.

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