News

    Increasing Vendor Diversity in St. Paul, Minnesota

    April 13, 2017

    Through the What Works Cities Initiative, GPL Assistant Director Jen North and Senior Advisor Greg Wass worked with the city of St. Paul, Minnesota to engage vendors, increase the number of vendor responses, and improve competition. Read more about how the city is building on these efforts to increase its vendor diversity and better understand why it wasn’t adequately reaching small, women- or minority-owned businesses. Read more.

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    Governing: How Cities Can Get Strategic About Procurement

    July 18, 2018

    In her latest commentary for Governing’s Better, Faster, Cheaper blog, Program Director Hanna Azemati describes the GPL’s work with the city of Louisville, KY to establish a strategic procurement system. According to Louisville’s director of purchasing, this system has helped the city “elevate the importance of procurement, build trust, and earn credibility” by prioritizing, structuring, evaluating, and managing critical contracts more effectively. ...

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    Bridging the Gap Between Residents and Opportunity in Charleston, South Carolina

    March 5, 2019

    The GPL worked with the City of Charleston, South Carolina to draft a results-driven RFP to identify a developer to build a high-quality, affordable housing on City land. By involving multiple departments in planning and writing the RFP as well as engaging with over 100 key stakeholders — including city staff, community representatives, developers, and nonprofits — the resulting procurement...

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    City of Portland: Results-Driven Contracting for Technology

    October 26, 2020
     The City of Portland worked with Harvard Kennedy School's Government Performance Lab to make practical changes to a critical procurement process, establishing a more strategic approach to technology contracting. Via video conference, city staff from Procurement Services and the Bureau of Technology Services Check share their experience applying results-driven contracting strategies to improve the City's technology procurement process.... Read more about City of Portland: Results-Driven Contracting for Technology

    We Are Commons: Tackling Homelessness in Seattle with Data-Driven Tools

    July 13, 2018

    "The city of Seattle, Washington has been changing the way they deal with homeless populations, and gathering data to drive some evidenced-based solutions. Now, with clear incentives and data collection, employees have a path forward for helping the homeless." Journalist Rebecca Gale discusses the GPL’s What Works Cities project to improve homelessness outcomes through results-driven contracting in Seattle. ...

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