Better Buyer-Supplier Relationships: What Public Procurement Buyers Should Know

We sit down with three NASPO ValuePoint suppliers across furniture manufacturing and public sector IT to unpack what buyers often can’t see. We talk about what transparency means in practice: sharing context early, making sure suppliers know when a contract manager changes, and building a cadence of meaningful touchpoints like quarterly business reviews. We also dig into the “three-sided” reality of public procurement, where procurement teams, end users, and suppliers all influence whether a contract actually works on the ground. When should agencies lean on cooperative purchasing and existing cooperative contracts instead of launching another standalone RFP? How do vague market baskets and unclear evaluation criteria create “subjective” scoring that frustrates bidders? What does useful post-award feedback look like, and how can better debriefs reduce FOIA requests and protests? We also tackle pricing pressures, multi-year market shifts, and why a race to the bottom bid can cost more in the long run. If you care about best value procurement, RFP evaluation criteria, sustainable pricing, and buyer-supplier partnerships that hold up over time, this conversation is a practical reset. Follow & subscribe to stay up-to-date on NASPO! naspo.org | Pulse Blog | LinkedIn | Youtube | Facebook