EarlyBirds Is Helping Government Procurement Benefit From Its Open Innovation Ecosystem

Australian open innovation ecosystem, EarlyBirds is shining a light on the inefficiencies in the procurement capabilities of government bodies and is positioning its platform and services as the perfect antidote to this administrative shortcoming that is wasting an unprecedented amount of taxpayer dollars globally. Readers can find out more about EarlyBirds and its many capabilities by heading over to http://earlybirds.io.

Government organizations are always regarded as being one step behind the private sector due to the differing priorities and motivations of those in charge. Procurement is one such key area that is responsible for a lot of inefficient spending in national agencies around the world.

EarlyBirds co-founder Kris Poria talks about why governments falter when it comes to effectively making use of public funds to bolster their ability to serve their citizens by saying, “Governments tend to prefer to work with large and established companies whose capabilities look good on paper and have brand recognition in their respective industry. However, big corporations suffer from low velocity when it comes to bringing products to market and jumping on newer industry trends. This is due to their size and having to live up to the reputation of delivering good work, the same qualities that make them more likely to secure government contracts. In contrast, smaller fledgling players can move quickly and come up with solutions to existing problems that are not only functionally better but also cheaper due to their lean delivery models. Moreover, since governmental agencies don’t tend to prioritize minimizing budgets but are more concerned about the optics when hiring a supposedly reliable partner, they don’t consider smaller companies for the procurement of technology and resources. Government officials, who recognize these problems and want to find out how EarlyBirds can help them find relevant Startups, Scaleups and mature companies that can solve their challenges, are invited to join the platform as early adopters at https://earlybirds.io/en/early_adopter.”

EarlyBirds suggests certain solutions to solve the global governments’ problem of ill-conceived procurement strategies. Firstly, the administrative body in charge of procurement should eschew a focus on requiring the finished product to meet arbitrary specifications and standards and instead focus on the effectiveness of a vendor’s products or services. The government’s goal should be to get the most value for their spending such that it can be justified to the nation’s taxpayers. EarlyBirds also recommends leveraging the tenets of circular business models such as circular supply life cycles, consuming a product as a service, product life extension, creating a sharing platform to maximize the usage of existing assets, and resource recovery. Governments should be flexible in their efforts to turn their vision into a reality which may mean adopting agile governance principles that reward collaboration, data-driven decision-making, and inclusive regulations. Finally, governments should create a fertile environment for smaller to medium companies to thrive by inviting them to submit proposals. This can help solve the primary barriers stopping Startups and Scaleups from pitching their products and services to governments namely a long and expensive tendering process and a lack of knowledge of opportunities available in the public sector.

EarlyBirds co-founder Jeff Penrose talks about how its open innovation ecosystem can help solve procurement challenges for government bodies by saying, “EarlyBirds is the right partner for governments needing to move towards transformational challenge-based procurement aimed at taking the advantages of the circular economy. The EarlyBirds platform and services can be used to greatly affect pre-procurement to better understand challenges, proactively assess the market, identify and evaluate options and determine risks associated with transformational procurement. This can include innovation ecosystem mapping, technology or business-themed challenges, creating a workflow for cross-government collaboration, and engagement with relevant innovators.”

EarlyBirds connects innovators, early adopters, and subject matter experts to accelerate capacity, speed, and culture to innovate and solve business and technical challenges. Companies that have valuable technology to offer can sign up as innovators on the platform at https://earlybirds.io/en/innovator.