Could solutions used to fight Ebola be a new model for procurement?

Commentary By Doug Burr
Director of Sales and Business Development
Qore Performance

As a small business, finding the proper channels and appropriate contacts to partner with the federal government can be exhausting, and often fruitless no matter your effort or intentions. Amongst tedious filing proceedings, drawn out acquisition bid processes, and archaic regulations and guidelines for submittal are thousands of companies hoping to make a positive impact but lost in the minutia. How can we change this?

Recently, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy created the Ebola Grand Challenge, an effort to expedite this process and draw out solutions from the public in a streamlined, collaborative way.

Through the online idea-sharing platform, OpenIdeo, physicists, mathematicians, inventors, doctors and everyday “Joes” submitted ideas and research to assist aid workers battling this deadly virus. Research and ideas were presented, evaluated, dissected, and often times, combined in an amazing show of collaboration.

Could this be the future of federal acquisitions?

Please continue reading at http://www.federalnewsradio.com/76/3762024/Could-solutions-used-to-fight-Ebola-be-a-new-model-for-procurement.