Enterprise sourcing is the application of industry analytic practices, acquisition units. Its primary purpose is to reduce costs, improve mission capability, and ultimately maximize the effectiveness of every taxpayer dollar spent on defense, according to information available as of early 2019.
Understanding Enterprise Sourcing
At its core, enterprise sourcing represents a strategic approach to how organizations, particularly large ones like government defense entities, procure goods and services. It's about moving beyond fragmented or individual purchasing decisions and adopting a more unified, data-driven, and strategic perspective across the entire enterprise.
It involves:
- Application of Industry Analytic Practices: Utilizing data analysis, market research, and sourcing expertise similar to methods used successfully in the private sector. This helps identify spending patterns, potential savings, and areas for efficiency improvement.
- Utilization of Acquisition Units: Involves dedicated teams or structures focused on strategic procurement activities across the enterprise, ensuring consistency, expertise, and leverage.
Key Objectives
The main goals driving enterprise sourcing initiatives, as highlighted in the reference, are:
- Reduce Costs: By consolidating purchases, negotiating better terms, and eliminating inefficiencies.
- Improve Mission Capability: Ensuring that the right resources are acquired efficiently to support operational needs and enhance effectiveness.
- Maximize Effectiveness of Taxpayer Dollars: Achieving the best possible value for money spent, which is crucial in public sector contexts like defense.
By taking an enterprise-wide view, organizations can identify opportunities for standardization, bulk purchasing, and process optimization that might be missed when sourcing is handled in isolation by individual departments or projects. This leads to more strategic, efficient, and cost-effective procurement outcomes.
