Government technology: market opportunities

Government technology for North America represents a significant market, noted the US company GTY Technology Holdings.

Procurement processes at various levels of government agencies and the public sector account for approximately 9% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for both the United States and Canada, which equates to approximately $2.1 trillion per year for both countries combined.

However, most of these spending decisions are made through manual paper processes, out-of-the-box spreadsheet technologies, and legacy Internet-based sourcing portals.

GTY is a software as a service (SaaS) company that provides a suite of primarily cloud-based solutions for the public sector in North America.

Overall, GTY solutions provide public sector organizations with the ability to communicate, engage, interact, conduct business and transact with their constituents in procurement, payment, grant management, budgeting and permitting.

Government technology

In total, according to GTY, the North American public sector market includes more than 99,000 cities, counties, towns, and other local government special agencies, and more than 17,000 public institutions in academia, public health care, transit, utilities, and general state and federal agencies, based on the most recent US government Census.

Despite differences in revenue streams, service delivery, and organizational mandates, each government agency or entity shapes its sourcing practices similarly in response to state and federal procurement legislation and the emergence of various best practices.

Every public body faces a similar challenge: how to acquire the best good or service, at the best cost, within the often rigid policy and compliance directives of elected bodies or other regulations.

This compliance and policy driven environment makes public sector contracting a significantly more complex and sensitive process than in the private sector.

Public sector procurement teams are often stewards of taxpayer resources and subject to high sourcing scrutiny and ethical requirements.

Such entities must balance competing interests such as cost savings, compliance, and quality to achieve exceptionally positive results.