Government Tech Purchase Decisions Take on Average 22 Months

According to a Gartner survey, the public sector has the longest average procurement cycle for technology purchases, at 22 months, when compared to other businesses.

Gartner surveyed 1,120 executives involved in technology evaluation or selection, including 79 from the public sector, in November and December 2021 to understand how firms approach large-scale purchasing efforts for enterprise technology.

Almost half of respondents (48 percent) reported six or more moderate or substantial delays in the purchasing process. Delaying considerations such as scope revisions added an average of seven months to the government technology purchasing cycle.

Dean Lacheca, VP Analyst, Gartner, said, “Technology acquisition brings challenges to the public sector that do not commonly exist in other industries. Each jurisdiction has its own procurement laws and policies, and within that, each agency or department can have its own interpretation of them. A failure to conform to the rules can have serious consequences, from unwanted publicity to personal risk of prosecution.”

Public Sector Buying Teams are Large and Complex

A typical public sector buying team has 12 participants, with varying levels of participation in the process.

Government C-level executives are less active in technology purchases (41 percent) than private sector counterparts (55 percent) to avoid identification with the process and the perception of political influence in the outcome. This also reduces the willingness of government C-level executives to support the process if it is challenged by unsuccessful vendors or the media.

Lower-level operational staff (46 percent) touched by the purchase process, taking on the position of business subject matter expert, are substantially more prevalent in the public sector than in other industries. While the government equivalents of a C-level executive or executive governance body have the decision-making ability, they are greatly influenced by the evaluation results and recommendations given by subject matter experts.

Multiple Factors Contribute to Buying-Cycle Delays

The factors most reported as resulting in significant delays often occur before what would be considered the official procurement process begins. Some of these factors include developing the business case (74 percent), scope changes requiring additional research and evaluation (76 percent) and reaching agreement around budgeting (75 percent).

Lacheca said, “While government buying cycles can be long, it is important to note that these time frames are not set. Initial planned timelines can be delayed as a result of a combination of both controllable and uncontrollable factors, especially when no external deadlines exist.”

Better Information from Technology Providers Can Help

Sixty-eight percent of public sector respondents indicate a moderate to significant delay because of their inability to obtain specific product or implementation requirements details from the provider.

Because public sector firms are rarely in direct competition and frequently face common issues, they are substantially more likely than non-public sector buyers to value references from existing clients.

The buying team is far more likely to receive fact-based, actionable content from the chosen providers. Gartner advises technology providers to keep an easily available list of public sector reference clients on hand, as well as to develop a wide library of product collateral with a strong emphasis on value assessment that can be exploited throughout the purchase cycle.