Simplifying Procurement concept: user-centered tools and case studies for navigating district purchasing¶

Element · All elements
Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 qualitative), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description¶

One of five concepts developed at the workshop, Simplifying Procurement is a set of user-centered tools meant to demystify district procurement. It proposes "district-specific maps of the procurement process and a collection of case studies and stories that describe how a product or service successfully entered the school district," spurring dialogue among vendors, administrators, and teachers. Its inspiration is customer-service experiences at companies like Nordstrom and Southwest, imagining the procurement office as a support service for teachers and vendors.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• District-specific process maps and collected case studies must be created for each district

Constraints¶

• Proposed as a concept with a possible next step, not yet tested in districts

Target Learners¶

• K-12 district procurement staff, administrators, and teachers

Target Learning Goals¶

• Helping stakeholders navigate and understand the ed-tech procurement process

Affordances¶

• Six Barriers Edtech Procurement Taxonomy

Claims¶

• Cohort purchasing through consolidated edtech procurement produced savings of nearly $200,000 and roughly 50 percent per-license discounts in Denver Public Schools [+M]

Related Elements¶

• Ed-Tech Incubator concept: mutually beneficial school-startup product development relationships
• Open Procurement concept: transparent district purchasing data creating smarter demand

Examples¶

• Better Planning, Better Process: bottom-up procurement planning through direct contact with teachers and administrators
• 7 Steps to Creative Financing: a stakeholder-team process for identifying financing for ed-tech
• Three focus areas for evolving district ed-tech procurement: connect with vendors, within districts, and across districts

Key Sources¶

• Evolving Ed-Tech Procurement in School Districts. (2013). Digital Promise. https://digitalpromise.dspacedirect.org/items/d5ac5c19-03f4-4e40-ab47-666c38a2ce5d