Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines procurement as the purchasing, leasing, renting or selling of materials, services, equipment or construction (as for a government agency).

It reads so simple on paper. If only it were.

As director for the Illinois Department of Central Management Services, my primary focus has been to find a way to bring logic and order to how the state goes about buying goods and services.

Shortly after Gov. Blagojevich took office in January 2003, an in-depth study showed state purchasing was not coordinated.

In fact, 60 state agencies were spending billions of dollars a year with 25,000 vendors via 70,000 separate contracts.

There were too few economies of scale, little strategic purchasing and ineffective volume discounts.

In one area – commodity and equipment purchases – 95 percent of contracts were renewed automatically when they expired, year after year.

In response to that report, Gov. Blagojevich pushed Central Management Services to establish business standards and practices to how the state goes about buying goods and services.

For example, Central Management Services was able to negotiate market-based prices for aggregated state cellular services to 6.8 cents per minute from an average of 14 cents, an annual savings of $1.8 million.

Central Management Services also saved $5.6 million for the Department of Corrections by shifting from purchasing individual packets to bulk on items like margarine, sugar and cereal and another $2 million by consolidating printing vendors.

Overall, Central Management Services has documented more than $100 million in procurement savings, and its transformation of the state’s purchase of these goods and services has been independently recognized as one of the nation’s best.

The National Association of State Procurement Officials recently awarded Illinois the 2004 Cronin Award for its “Transformation of Procurement Performance.”

We have a lot of work to do, but it’s good to know what we are off to a good start.

Michael Rumman

Director, Illinois

Department of Central

Management Services