In 2012, the White House launched a program to bring some of the brightest minds in America to Washington to figure out how to make government work better. The latest projects include everything from disaster response to using open data.
The program, Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIFs), includes an impressive group of innovators. One of the more successful initiatives to come out of the inaugural program was something many contractors, particularly small contractors, may already have encountered.
It’s called, RFP-EZ, and the project’s goal was to cut a huge chunk of the red tape that permeates most governmental RFPs. Generally, government acquisitions falling under the $150,000 “Simplified Acquisition Threshold” would qualify. Because RFP-EZ costs potential contractors a lot less to complete and increases competition by encouraging more small businesses to bid, the project has already generated average savings of 30 percent:
During the pilot period, 270 new businesses that had never tried government contracting before submitted bids.
Setting up an RFP-EZ profile is a lot easier too.
All in all, the PIF program is off to an impressive start.