The Department of Commerce has launched a blog series to highlight some of department-wide efforts to eliminate wasteful spending and support an economy built to last.
In the first post, agency chief information officer Simon Szykman said the department’s fiscal year 2013 budget request identified $176 million in savings through lower-cost acquisitions, reduced overhead expenses and better management of facilities and vehicles.
Szykman highlighted a program in his office where the amount of money spent on Adobe Systems software and services.
Wrote Szykman:
We’re partnering with Alvarez and Associates—a small business owned by a service-disabled veteran—to save more than $1 million over the next five years on Adobe products that the Department of Commerce is already using. We anticipate that this agreement will reduce the Department’s spending on Adobe products and services by up to 40 percent.
Because the Department of Commerce purchases a large volume of Adobe products each year, we were able to leverage our existing purchasing power to achieve these significant cost savings. It is wise spending decisions like these that will enable Commerce to focus resources on our primary mission: serving the American public and supporting businesses as they innovate, grow, and create jobs here at home. I am pleased that in reaching this agreement, we were able to work with a company like Alvarez and Associates, because one of our main priorities is to support small businesses that create jobs and strengthen our economy.
