Easier Procurement for Law Enforcement Professionals

We recently had the chance to meet with law enforcement professionals at this year’s 2023 National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA) Winter Conference in Washington DC. As part of public agencies, the law enforcement officers (LEOs) handling procurement for their department are responsible for sourcing goods and services in a compliant, cost-effective manner.

The Challenge

This task presents a challenge to LEOs: You need to make budget-friendly purchases on a regular basis for urgent or mission-critical purposes, but you don’t have a fully developed purchasing staff on-hand to assist with the process. You still want the ability to make or guide purchasing decisions in the Sheriff’s office, but you want those decisions to be better-informed and more compliant. Deputies and directors also want greater insight into, and control over, those purchases.

LEOs and other buyers in the public sector are responsible for purchasing budget-friendly equipment and supplies that meet specific standards, all within the boundaries of governmental purchasing regulations. The complex requirements within this process mean purchase requests can take weeks to complete. Budget constraints may also limit your ability to procure the products and services you need in a timely manner. On top of these challenges, many departments still use antiquated procurement processes that rely on paper and spreadsheets. These outdated workflows are time-consuming, error-prone, and can lead to compliance issues.

Meeting the Challenge

To overcome these challenges, LEOs and other public sector procurement professionals can benefit from adopting modern procurement technologies that digitize, enhance, and streamline the procurement process. A quality procurement solution will reduce the room for human error and can help your department comply with purchasing regulations. Look for technology that offers:

• Simplified sourcing and improved supplier relationships
  • A solution that provides shared public sector contracts can introduce you to new compliant supplier offerings and help you source new items in less time.
• Greater visibility into your organization’s purchasing activities
  • Procurement technology that houses both shared contracts and your own supplier contracts in one system can help reduce the time spent on sourcing. It can also provide your organization with data to help inform future purchasing decisions.
  • When all the items, all the orders, and all the approvals are in one system, you get more visibility into what your department is spending and how they’re spending it.
• Fast implementation with minimal training requirements
  • The faster the solution is implemented, the faster you can improve your procurement processes and get back to other duties.
  • Departments benefit from a procurement solution that is as straightforward and easy-to-use as possible. Navigation within the tool should be simple as navigation within a consumer shopping site.
• Automated approval workflows
  • Automated approval chains maintain a digital record of each approval. When all approvals are granted in a single system, the audit trail is stronger.

Up-to-date procurement technology makes it easier for LEOs and procurement professionals to overcome the common hurdles of budget restrictions and public sector compliance requirements. A modern marketplace-style procurement platform like Varis can simplify sourcing, purchasing, and approval automation for your organization and give you the tools you need to quickly get back to your most important duties.