Alas, productivity is how organizations excel and how they are able to offer lower prices, better quality, and higher profitability. So what are the key activities to increase the capacity of organizations to bring productivity into the forefront of their operational and business reviews?

1. Benchmark others. In my dissertation completed ten years, there was a 100% connection between benchmarking and organizational improvement.
2. Develop a precise measure of productivity for the organization, and define each term used in common practice
3. Construct simple tools and simulations to perform basic cause and effect analysis using standard input such as labor, material, equipment, systems, and environment.
4. Add the measure and the ultimate evaluation of performance to the top management agenda and KPIs

Then you will be able to truly compare how your organization fares in the market, and the factors that stand in the way for higher operational performance.

Like the footwear industry, electronics manufacturers source product materials from many developing nations and manage size-able supply chains. They also share a similar amount of time in the media spotlight for sustainably suspect procurement practices. One need only jump back over recent 2012 headlines on the Apple and Foxconn debacle for proof.

However, one of the many manufacturers developing components for Apple’s products is setting a new standard for sustainable sourcing in the electronics industry – and that company is Intel.

Intel appears to be aggressively active in their efforts to reduce waste, measure their suppliers, and become more environmentally-friendly. Here are four examples that help illustrate Intel’s approach to sustainable sourcing:

Clean Energy Procurement

Intel has demonstrated a significant commitment to renewable energy and holds the #1 spot on the EPAs list of “National Top 50” organizations using green power sources. The EPA has awarded Intel with this honor as a result of the following:

• Solar Power Use. The company has installed solar electric power systems at more than nine facilities and generates almost 4M kilowatt hours per year of clean solar energy.
• Renewable Energy Certificates. Intel purchases nearly 3B kilowatt hours per year of Renewable Energy Certificates (or RECs) generated from the production of wind, solar, geothermal, low-impact hydro, and biomass sources. Though a bit complicated to understand, RECs are purchased to certify the production of 1 MWh of renewable energy. Organizations such as Intel purchase RECs to contribute a source of revenue and subsidies to renewable energy producers, who use the money to fund their operations. Clean energy suppliers track the production of each REC to measure the impact of renewable energy as the electrons generated by clean sources and fossil fuels are indistinguishable. For more information on RECs, 3Degrees (a broker of environmental commodities such as RECs) had the most comprehensible description we could find.

Conflict –Free Minerals

Intel has taken a number of measures to address concerns that several metals (cobalt, gold, tantalum, tin, and tungsten) mined from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for use in the electronics supply chain are tied to human rights offenses in that country. Though it is not the biggest user of these materials in its industry, the company has been behind several initiatives to map the electronics supply chain and take actions to verify that its microprocessors are “conflict-free,” which has proven to be a difficult task given the largesse of their supply chain. These initiatives include:

• The completion of over 40 on-site reviews of smelters in several countries
• A review of the extractives and mineral trade operations in the DRC by Intel staff
• Partnering with organizations such as the EICC (Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition) to verify and identify six smelters that are compliant with a Conflict-Free Smelter assessment program protocol that Intel helped develop

Intel hopes to reliably certify the first conflict-free microprocessor by the end of 2012. A recent video on these efforts can be found by clicking here.

Reduction of Product Packaging Waste

Packaging and logistics teams at Intel have been redesigning the composition, form, and size of product packaging to minimize waste and drive down costs. Hundreds of tons of waste have been eliminated, primarily by reducing the use of corrugated paper and wood in shipping. These efforts have had the effect of decreasing transportation costs and the carbon emissions that go along with moving bulkier packages. Intel teams have worked successfully with subcontractors on these waste reduction programs.

Audit and Assessment Efforts

Intel serves on the board of the Electronics Industry Citizen Coalition (EICC) and has been behind the development of supplier measurement and evaluation efforts such as self-assessment questionnaires, corrective actions, and validated audit processes. The Supply Chain Management Review Committee (MRC) at Intel is responsible for the assessment of suppliers.

A risk-based approach is utilized to evaluate nearly 800 of Intel’s suppliers on a range of areas including labor, environment, health and safety. Intel publicizes the overall results of these assessments in their annual Corporate Social Responsibility Report which has been published since 2001. Beyond these assessments, Intel also relies on third-party audits conducted by organizations such as the EICC. In fact, Intel discovered issues with Foxconn through these audit efforts back in 2010 and has worked with the company since then to close audit findings – well before Apple has been forced to react this year.

So, in conclusion, what are the key take-aways from Intel’s sustainable sourcing efforts?

• It pays to be proactive in shaping the discussion. Join and help establish collaborative organizations (such as EICC for the electronics industry) that are dedicated to moving the whole industry forward on sustainable sourcing programs. Working with industry peers aids in the transferring of best practices; creates opportunities to work collectively with shared suppliers; and provides an avenue for mitigating potential issues (such as conflict mineral use).  
• Culture and incentives play a role in promoting sustainable sourcing practices. Like any organizational change effort, culture plays a significant role in establishing sustainable sourcing programs. Create a culture that rewards sustainable innovation (excuse us for the buzzword) through a system of awards, pay incentives, improvement programs, and leadership involvement.
• Sustainable sourcing requires partnering with suppliers. Pushing into sustainable sourcing frequently involves moving into uncharted territory and working with suppliers that may require training, capital, and other resources.  Intel approaches this issue through its significant investment in RECs that support the entire renewable energy industry; the real interest in the political climate in the DRC; and the active involvement in industry assessment efforts. By working to expand the overall market capabilities to produce sustainable materials and resources – organizations can help bring about technological innovation, reduced supply costs, and efficiencies that benefit sustainable procurement efforts.

We start our series with the footwear and apparel industry – a sector that tends to receive a lot of negative press in the realm of environmental-friendliness and fair labor practices.

Once perennially chastised for allegations of lax oversight of their global suppliers, Nike appears to have put a lot of effort into their sustainable sourcing practices.

Nike has received a lot of attention lately for its Sourcing and Manufacturing Sustainability Program, which essentially gives equal weight to sustainability measures compared to the traditional aspects of quality, delivery, and cost used in supplier evaluation. The company is implementing a Sourcing and Manufacturing Sustainability Index (SMSI) designed to measure suppliers in the following areas:

• Health and Safety
• Labor and Human Resource Management
• Lean Commitment
• Energy Use and Carbon Output
• Environmental Sustainability

If suppliers are found to be noncompliant according to the SMSI system, they will need to fund third-party audits until they are brought to a minimum standard of conduct (what Nike calls “Bronze” level performance).

Though the brand team and marcom folks definitely have a heavy hand in this effort judging by the content and design of the Nike Responsibility site (the word “sustainability” is mentioned over 30 times on a single page), there appears to be a solid backbone to this initiative based on the following:

• Measurement. A team of 70 Nike employees and a set of third-party auditors evaluate individual factories every 12 to 18 months. Factories receive a score based on evaluation metrics and are held accountable for their performance. The company has also set a variety of specific goals and targets to be met by the year 2020.
• FLA Membership.  Nike is a voluntary member of the Fair Labor Association, which means that they are accountable for monitoring 100% of their supply chain to ensure that FLAs strict labor standards are met. FLA also conducts random assessments of Nike factories, the results of which are made public on the FLA website.
• Alignment. The company has collected data from hundreds of contract factories producing for the Nike brand and affiliates; bringing all factories into alignment with a single Code of Conduct.
• Training. Training programs have been rolled out to 76 Asia-Pacific factories and over 400 factory leaders on Human Resources Management, environmental sustainability and energy issues.
• Transparency. You have to hand it to Nike for publishing such a wealth of detailed information to the public about their sustainable sourcing efforts, including an interactive map that displays the names, locations, and statistics on hundreds of factories worldwide.

So what does the Nike example tell us about the state of sustainable sourcing today?

1. Many companies are still trying to get measurement down. Taking a look at the stats published on the Nike Responsibility website and the noncompliance elements highlighted in FLA reports, there is still a lot of work to be done in simply collecting data and tracking the efforts of suppliers, especially with supply chains that number in the thousands. In 2009, Nike lacked data on nearly 500 of their suppliers to sufficiently evaluate them.
2. Sustainable sourcing efforts can have a positive effect on the brand. Nike has jumped up nearly 10 spots since 2001 on Interbrand’s Ranking of Top 100 Brands. Interbrand measures companies based on financial performance, brand role and brand strength and incorporates primary research with consumers into their methodology. Interbrand cites environmental responsibility and other sustainability factors as key components in the favorable ranking of several top brands on the list.
3. Sustainable sourcing and fair labor practices are catching on in the footwear industry. In the case of this industry in particular, the trend in sustainable sourcing is contagious. PUMA, Adidas, Asics, and New Balance are also all members of the FLA and also highlight their social responsibility and sustainability efforts quite prominently. At the very least, these brands all seem to recognize the importance of the issue to consumers and appear to be taking steps towards a sourcing approach that is less wasteful and more equitable.

Metro’s survey was based on the questionnaire sent to 200 transit agencies with a list of questions ranging from biggest challenges and most frequent issues they meet in the shops to training and new ways to perform services.

One of the respondents noted that “Consistent parts availability and obsolescence avoidance is an ongoing concern being addressed through product testing and alternatives, working closely with manufacturers and vendors” Another one explained that it is really hard for them to determine the spare parts ratio because of the different lead times for different types of buses. He mentioned that many of their older buses require local fabrication shops to make parts for them, as they are no longer available from manufacturers or vendors.

This approach makes it almost impossible to predict the life cycle of bus parts to be able to plan preventive/predictive spare parts replacement and significantly increases the total cost of ownership for older buses. Consequently, it increases the number of road calls because of the increased number of external service failures.

The survey also indicates that workshop managers are facing a challenge arising from transit agencies’ strategy of transferring to cleaner burning engines with new, alternative propulsion systems.

This requires significant changes in repair procedures and knowledge management. More versatile fleet requires better planning and generally increases the cost of maintenance because of the new, specialized equipment needed and more complex organization of work in all segments from procurement of spare parts to the actual repair work by mechanics.

This survey has shown the need for better long term planning of capital investments in transit agencies. What is the cut-off age of the fleet when the total cost of ownership over the remaining life cycle of a bus becomes higher than selling the vehicle and investing in a new one? What are the costs of the more complex organization and smaller spare part batches ordered because of the more versatile fleet and how fast do we want to homogenize the fleet to reduce the related costs?

These are the types of questions management of transit agencies will have to answer to successfully overcome the challenges they are facing today.

Authors of the article have pointed out that: “More organizations have become actively engaged in social initiatives, and many are proud to promote their activities and accomplishments in annual corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports”.

In all of these, usually called, “sustainability reports” companies present their achievements on a corporate level measured by company-wide KPIs. In these reports, CSR is presented in multiple categories such as: Environmental Management, GHG Emissions, Energy Consumption, Water Consumption, Recycling, Social Impact and Diversity. The biggest issue in implementing CSR initiatives in organizations is how to deploy the strategic CSR goals on the operational level.

In the case of implementing Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives, a wider continuous improvement framework is necessary to make these changes sustainable.

“A big ship traveling at full speed requires distance and time to turn around”. (Deming)

Calyptus Consulting has helped multiple clients in several industries (Mining, Manufacturing, Financial Services) in aligning their strategic goals and implementing a sustainable continuous improvement framework using its Policy Deployment procedure. Using this procedure we have been able to analyze and develop/redesign clients’ KPIs (Including CSR) and help them deploy their strategic objectives to the operational level. KPIs have been deployed horizontally and vertically encompassing multiple organizational tiers (depending on a client size and structure) and a reporting system has been implemented to roll up the KPIs from the operational level to the system wide KPIs.

The main goal of this approach is to align company objectives from the bottom all the way to the company vision and mission and empower the organization with sustainable system able to self-direct its initiatives across the organization to fulfill strategic objectives and stay “on the right course” as the title of the article implies.

The refining business once was dominated by integrated oil companies, which both produced the oil and refined and sold the final product. But as refining and marketing became less profitable than production of crude oil, some big oil companies began spinning off and selling or shutting down refineries.

In 2011, Delta spent $11.7 billion on fuel, which accounted to 36% of its operating costs. In 2010 fuel accounted for 30% of Delta’s expenses. In a written statement, Richard Anderson, Delta Chief Executive said: “This modest investment, the equivalent of the list price of a new wide-body aircraft, will allow Delta to reduce its fuel expense by $300 million annually and ensure jet fuel availability in the Northeast.”

Since the amount of Jet fuel produced in this refinery is not large enough to cover its needs, Delta will exchange gasoline and other refined products from the complex for jet fuel from Phillips 66 and BP through multi-year agreements.

Two questions come to mind after reading all that has been said recently about Delta’s new business adventure.

• Is the profit margin of a crude oil producer so much higher than the margin of an airline that a refinery can be interesting to an airline while the oil company wants to shut it down? If this is true what can we conclude about the price structure of crude oil?

• Is there a synergetic value between a jet fuel producer and an airline company like Delta?

I must say that I don’t see it. I do not see how a specialized company with years of experience in the industry can be less profitable than a newbie. Can Delta utilize some of their underutilized assets or increase the efficiency of the supply chain to decrease the overall expenses of Jet Fuel production? Even if it does reduce the costs of refinement, Delta still has only a part of the Jet fuel production value chain under control. Volatility of crude oil price is still a significant factor that is out of their control since the refinement process only accounts for 12-18 percent of the Jet Fuel price. The focus should be on the total costs of ownership and the level of fuel supply control.

On the other hand investors seem to support Delta’s decision – the company’s shares went up by 10% since the rumor about the acquisition of the refinery started to spread.

I guess we will soon find out if this was the right decision but I am sure that other airline companies are very interested to see the outcome of this venture.

The implications of this information are profound: companies in the U.S. are the most advanced in the concept of purchasing and supply management. We can find materials locally and produce locally and not pay the high costs of transportation, have less flexibility in the use of materials, and can have better inventory positioning.

I have made this case before. Is anyone listening? I can show from a total cost standpoint that U.S. manufacturers can be competitive, even more competitive, than Asian and Chinese suppliers. We need to change the mindset about this to improve control, cost management, and flexibility.

One need only look at the agenda of the upcoming Public Housing Authorities Directors’ Association conference to see the range of issues being addressed. A recent New York Times story detailed, for instance, the competing issues of overcrowding – and undercrowding – and there have been several other stories in recent weeks and months raising other general or agency-specific issues in public housing.

You may have taken notice of more than one of these stories, and may be wondering what is going on behind the scenes, and what is being done to safeguard taxpayer money while delivering valuable public services.

Calyptus has had the opportunity to work with some of the largest public housing authorities in the country and we deal with a multitude of issues (even regulatory receivership). So we have a unique perspective on this.

What the public citizen and tax payer see most often, of course, are the people and families needing affordable housing, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and its local agencies generally doing their level best, which they do, to provide housing to those in need.

People have much less visibility to the processes, rules and regulations, and procurement actions behind the scenes that make this all happen. These operative aspects of public housing do not come to light until there is a suggestion or allegation of compliance or business practice issues.

Calyptus Consulting deals with these issues regularly. To help public housing agencies (as well as other public sector entities) execute their missions in a sound and effective manner, we have to understand the complex procurement-related rules that govern the public sector.

Government entities are, for example, usually required to develop detailed independent cost estimates prior to initiating procurements. They must also seek competition in their procurements and carefully justify “sole source” purchases (meaning procurements when only one supplier is available and only one solicitation is issued). Government agencies must also develop policies and procedures that ensure compliance with federal and state regulations regarding how to procure goods and services.

Public sector procurement has a host of regulations intended to maintain integrity in the process and the resulting contracts. Procurement is an area that is improved immensely with the help of regular training, assessment, and specialized consulting services. Cost-effective, efficient, compliant and ethical procurement practices are within the reach of any housing authority that recognizes this as a public responsibility and critical investment area for their organization. By complying with federal regulations, housing authorities can ensure that they utilize HUD dollars effectively, minimizing the use of local funds.

Calyptus Consulting is proud to be celebrating 20 years of providing public sector (and private sector) procurement consulting expertise to public housing authorities and a range of public sector and private industry clients. We offer below five key recommendations for housing authorities seeking to improve their procurement operations.

- Robert Eastman and Nick Harris

Calyptus Consulting’s “Top 5″ Recommendations for Public Housing Authorities

1. Training
   Provide continual procurement-specific training for Housing Authority Commissioners, Directors and staff
2. Policies and Procedures
   Develop, maintain and enforce procurement Policies and Procedures that are current and fully reflect HUD, federal, state, and local regulations
3. Organizational Capacity
   Ensure that your Agency has culture, organizational structure, roles and responsibilities aligned to perform effectively; where there is doubt, conduct an assessment of these and other human capital measures.
4. Documentation, and Contract Administration
   Establish a rigorous system for documentation of your procurements and contract administration to ensure compliance and effective contract administration
5. Outsource
   When this becomes too much to manage, and/or you require Best-in-class procurement practices, consider outsourcing the entire procurement function to Calyptus Consulting or another qualified consultant

- Nick Harris and Robert Eastman

Public Housing links:

• Alabama Association of Housing and Redevelopment Authorities, http://www.aahra.org/
• Association of Alaska Housing Authorities, http://www.aahaak.org/
• California Association of Housing Authorities, http://www.cahahousing.org/
• Council of Large Public Housing Authorities, http://www.clpha.org/about
• Florida Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials, http://www.fahro.org/
• Georgia Association of Housing and Redevelopment Authorities, http://www.gahra.org/
• HUD, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD
• HUDdle, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Official Blog, http://blog.hud.gov/
• Illinois Association of Housing Authorities, http://www.iahaonline.org/
• Kentucky Housing Association, http://www.kyhousingassn.com/
• Massachusetts Chapter, National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO), http://massnahro.org/
• Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development, http://www.mass.gov/hed/economic/eohed/dhcd/
• Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership, http://www.mbhp.org/
• Michigan Housing Directors Association, http://www.mhdaweb.com/
• National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO), http://www.nahro.org/about-nahro
• New York State Public Housing Authority Directors Association, http://www.nysphada.org/
• Ohio Housing Authorities Conference, http://www.ohac.com/
• Association of Oregon Housing Authorities, http://orhousingauthorities.org/
• Pennsylvania Association of Housing and Redevelopment Agencies, http://www.pahra.org/
• Public Housing Authority Directors Association, http://www.phada.org/
• South Carolina Association of Housing Authorities, http://www.scahaed.org/
• Tennessee Association of Housing and Redevelopment Authorities, http://www.tahranet.org/
• US Department of Housing and Urban Development, http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD
• Virginia Association of Housing and Community Development Officials, http://home.naxs.com/vahcdo/
• West Virginia Association of Housing Agencies, http://www.wvaha.org/welcome.htm
• Wisconsin Association of Housing Authorities, http://www.wahaonline.org/

What should we know about George Harris?  Could you share some of your background and experience?

George Harris [GH:]:  After some experience working in the high-tech industry procurement sector for a number of years I found myself in the consulting industry, with stints at both Arthur D. Little, and five years as a senior consultant with Harbridge House, Inc.  There I did quite a bit work in the training area, and this remains a core competency of what we do at Calyptus Consulting.  I have also spent quite a bit of time in multiple Buyer and Purchasing Manager roles in government contracting/subcontracting, electronics, printing and professional services, and so have built up considerable expertise in the area of supply chain management over the course of some 30 years.

In 1992, I started up Calyptus Consulting, and Calyptus has developed core competencies around Procurement, Strategic Sourcing, and Supply Chain Management, and training in these areas, among other things.  We have delivered a lot of client value in the general areas of supply management training and consulting, working in virtually every industry sector.

Our work at Calyptus Consulting has included work in the public sector, contracting, industrial, software, consumer products, oil/gas, food & beverage, electronics, metal fabrication, financial services, mining, capital equipment, and service and manufacturing industries.  As just a few examples, we have done quite a bit of work with Procurement System Reviews of federally financed state and local transit agencies; acquisition planning for the private and public agencies; supply management performance assessment for the large multinational companies and federal agencies; completed more than 500 strategic sourcing projects for clients; and conducted training for more than 15,000 different participants in the areas of procurement, quality, project management, supply chain management, and general management.

I have authored or co-authored several articles and books on procurement and sourcing, including, among others, “Negotiations: Six Steps to Success,” and self-study coursework for the American Management Association: “Strategic Supply Management”, and “Fundamentals of Purchasing”.  I am a Fellow with the National Contract Management Association, and have presented at NAPM/ISM National Conferences on a variety of topics.

How would you describe Calyptus – mission, culture, core competencies, target market / client?

[GH:]  Our culture is one of team orientation, working and performing as a team, and complementing each other’s capabilities and expertise.  We focus on delivering the solid fact-based results to our clients which enable our clients to execute better.  We focus more on target opportunities than we do on “target market”.  We have many public sector clients; our clients in the private sector are often $250M+ in revenues.  Ideal opportunities for us are enterprises looking for assistance in Strategic Sourcing, Supply Chain, Sourcing and Procurement, or training in these areas.  We think of our capabilities as encompassing strategy to execution, and, particularly, supplying the enterprise with the knowledge, training and tools that it needs to execute better. So, for example, we have a lean management tool, a supply chain management assessment, and a procurement system tool, among other things. We also have a maturity model comprising 50+ items.  So clients will use these tools to help them assess gaps toward reaching world-class status.

George, rumor has it that your consulting work has taken you far and wide.  What have been some of your more interesting client engagements?

[GH:]  Interviewing staff in mines in the Saudi Arabia desert was certainly an interesting experience. Also, negotiating contracts with Chinese suppliers was pretty unique due to their lack of familiarity at the time with the process and lack of knowledge about their costs. Teaching quality to staff at OTIS Japan was very rewarding.

Congratulations on Calyptus Consulting’s 20th anniversary.  What has been the key to Calyptus’ success and longevity?

[GH:]  I think that everyone would agree that a devotion to customer service, hard work, continuous knowledge improvement, and a competitive spirit are keys to success.  For Calyptus, it has been more than this.  We have not been afraid to take on challenging assignments, and we have been privileged to work with terrific clients who have given us opportunities to deliver our expertise as well as to grow our capabilities.  We are a smaller team, and we have tried to use all of the advantages of this to be very collaborative internally, and be more responsive and agile with clients.  So we have found it possible to leverage the advantages of being a smaller consulting firm, without letting this limit us in what we can do for clients.

How did the name ‘Calyptus’ originate?

[GH:]  It started as a contest. Someone suggested “Eucalyptus” since we could say that our training results improved things. But this name was copyrighted and trademarked so I dropped the “eu”, and came up with Calyptus Consulting.  Believe it or not, clients haven’t had problems spelling or remembering the name, and as a side benefit [laughing] everyone asks us where the name came from, so it has proven to be a good conversation starter.

Are there companies or organizations which are stand-out “benchmark” companies in Sourcing / procurement?

[GH:]  General Electric has been top-notch in sourcing and procurement, but I see them as maybe having lost a bit of their edge, mostly due to bureaucracy.  Proctor & Gamble and Mars continue to be great companies to benchmark.  United Technologies has been a leader, but another firm that may not be the benchmark they have been.  In training, Microsoft is exceptional, as is Mars. These are two great benchmarks because they are passionate in ensuring that their worldwide staff has the tools in real-time to contribute to satisfying customer needs.

What is the biggest mistake that you see sourcing organizations making from an organizational standpoint?

[GH:]  They don’t continue with training and process improvement. Large firms still do things the way they have been doing for decades. And they are very inefficient and they don’t know that whether the prices paid are good enough.  Training, in particular, is still an area of poor focus and lack of devoted resources. Firms are “hiring in” experts and they think that is all they need to do. The body of knowledge is changing so fast that even the most knowledgeable staff member lacks skills, particularly, for instance, in market analysis and cost/price analysis.

What is the biggest mistake that you see sourcing organizations making from a process standpoint?

[GH:]  One of the biggest mistakes that we see is Sourcing not keeping their policies and procedures updated to reflect best practices. This is especially true in the areas of eProcurement, ePayables, supplier performance systems, best value procurement, insourcing, supply chain management, and metrics.  Also, too many procurement groups have poor overall strategies that aren’t tied to the overall goals of the enterprise.

Companies have obviously been paying a lot of attention to eProcurement for a long time.  Where do you see the maturity of these processes now, and what do you see as the next step for many companies?

[GH:]  The large ERP firms are still struggling as their product offering is missing key pieces such as performance measurement, total costs, and market analysis. Some of the smaller firms have great products but they have to be linked via middle-ware. There isn’t a fully working model out there yet. We recently conducted a study of 29 providers and we couldn’t find a true full-service provider.

What advice, then, do you have for public and private sourcing organizations for 2012?

[GH:]  Develop a fresh strategic statement that tracks with the organization’s strategy. Build metrics and objectives to track to each of the organization’s objectives. Develop implementation plans in the areas of systems, process, and people; ensure that they include training and development activities.

We give up: What is the difference between Single Source and Sole Source? Why do people need to know the difference, and will knowing this make us popular at parties?

[GH:]  A sole source is a supplier that is the only firm that can meet the buyer’s specification and time constraints. A single source is a supplier that is chosen from all that submitted a bid or proposal as the only firm that will supply the product or service. In public sector procurement, a single source can be the only firm that submitted a bid or proposal in response to a solicitation.  And no, I would not particularly encourage you to use this at parties.

What can we expect to see from Calyptus in the near-term and longer term?

[GH:]  We are continually looking at complementary strategic enhancements or build-outs to our core capabilities, whether that is an alliance, or a homegrown extension to our present services.  We are looking at some innovative new approaches to several of our capabilities.  We are developing new and value-added products to offer our clients in the areas of quality, organizational review, procurement maturity, and benchmarking/best practices. We are also evaluating some possible new services.  eLearning is getting some focus, and we will be updating our IT infrastructure to keep pace with large private sector clients.  We are taking a clean-sheet approach to updating our website, and putting up fresh content on the Calyptus Consulting Blog.  So you should see a growing presence and visibility for Calyptus Consulting in our blogspace and in the social media.  This is a work-in-progress for us.  And, well, we may have a few other surprises up our sleeves that we are not yet ready to talk about.

- Robert Eastman, with George Harris

But what is missed are the true problems at GSA:

Agency Trip to Las Vegas Is the Talk of Washington
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT
Published: April 3, 2012

2) These agreement are supposed to include the best pricing suppliers have to offer. This has never been benchmarked and I feel that the prices are not fair and reasonable. The analysis performed by GSA is relatively weak.

3) Users of these agreements are supposed to compete their purchases. This simply is not done, costly taxpayers millions of dollars. More attention should be paid to guidance to using agencies to ensure competition.

The press, and the U.S. Government, are better off evaluating these three areas. This is where the problems are…and the agencies buying from the contracts/schedules are not paying fair and reasonable costs.