Strategic sourcing and spend analysis: a case study of the Naval Postgraduate School

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify opportunities for strategic sourcing in the Naval Postgraduate School contracting office. The benefits of strategic sourcing in industry have helped realize cost savings time and time again. The necessity to acquire products and services more efficiently is a growing concern across the Department of Defense. A major step in strategic sourcing is to conduct a spend analysis, which identifies strategic sourcing opportunities. This research includes a spend analysis on theNPS contracting office, using data from FY2012 through FY2014. With the findings of the analysis, the authors identified opportunities to reduce the school’s supply base and lower the number of contract actions, making the overall contracting process more efficient. The study concludes with recommendations of commodity and service categories that could be strategically sourced to realize cost savings acrossNPS.