The Department of Commerce expects to save between $20 million to $25 million with a new bulk-computing contract, said Acting Deputy Secretary Rebecca Blank.
Blank said the contract expects to reduce the cost for desktops and laptops by 40 percent, leveraging the large volume of computers the department purchases each year.
“Making wise spending decisions like this will enable Commerce to focus resources on its primary mission, which is supporting innovation, helping American businesses create jobs, and driving U.S. competitiveness around the world,” Blank wrote on the Department of Commerce blog.
She said the contract is with Intelligent Decisions, a small business reseller.
Blank continued:
Thanks to the diligent work of the Census Bureau’s acquisition team, this contract maximizes the Department’s buying power by aggregating the purchasing power of all the Commerce Bureaus to drive down costs. And, through smart contracting strategies such as strategic sourcing and better management of our information technology devices, we can make a difference to our bottom line.
The Commerce Department achieved more than $50M in administrative savings in FY11, including $42M in savings through negotiating stronger pricing with vendors and reducing the size of contracts. Savings are also being achieved in fleet, travel, printing, and other key areas including shutting down wireless devices that aren’t being used and reducing use of desktop printers. Commerce is already well on its way to achieve $143 million in reduced overhead costs and administrative savings this fiscal year, and Commerce’s FY13 budget proposes to increase that to $176 million.
Increasing efficiency and cutting administrative costs is an important and achievable goal in government. At Commerce, we want to direct our resources to investments that will create jobs and help our economy grow. To do this, we will continue to search for new ways to do more with less and do our part in making the government work better for the American people.
