Can Online Marketplaces Transform Govt Procurement Practices?
I’ve personally used resources like eLance and Guru when looking for professional services for my crazy business ideas. They’ve worked out really well (can’t say the same thing about my ideas). The way I describe these services is like eBay for professional services. The process looks like: 1. Publish your requirements online 2. Vendors bid for your work online 3. You evaluate the bids based on their response and their previous rating/work history which is linked to their profile 4. Once a vendor is selected the work begins and is tracked through the platform. 5. Payment is released upon acceptance (any issues are managed online through a 3rd party mediation company) So the real benefits from this approach is access (1)to a huge marketplace of service providers (2) reverse auction (3) complete transparency and (4) no administrative costs to purchasers. The bottom line is that an online marketplace can: lower costs, improve quality, and provide a faster time to market. It also helps our
