Maximize Year-End Spend

It's almost that time again—fiscal year-end. This time of the year can be hectic for many buyers as they are scrambling to place orders before the end of the year because they want to avoid a reallocation or reduction of their funding the following year. Therefore, it is in leaders' best interests to ensure their entire budget is allocated efficiently and effectively.

One way to do so, is to find a strategic e-procurement partner that empowers your procurement process to make smart business decisions, especially at the end of the fiscal year. A partner like Amazon Business can help maximize your year-end spending while adhering to your organization's purchasing policies, managing cash flow, and tracking planned or tail-spend.

Designed for efficiency and speed

Amazon Business is designed for the unique needs of government agencies of all sizes. We simplify the process to provide direct access to bulk items, help you find sellers that comply with your agency's Buying and Approval policies, control and monitor spending across multi-users, and use spending analytics to make for smart business buying. Buyers can search from thousands of sellers, often at discounted prices.

One way to efficiently spend your year-end funds is with a Request for Quote (RFQ). This tool allows your team to avoid back-and-forth negotiations with suppliers while Amazon Business does the work to save you money on high-volume purchases. Buyers can request a discount on single-SKU purchases over $10,000 or 999 units. Set your desired price and quantity for high-volume purchases and request a quote. Then access thousands of bulk suppliers who can support custom offers tailored to your agency's needs.

When buying in bulk, the RFQ tool can help when you:

• need to reduce costs
• need more inventory than what's available on Amazon Business
• expect a better price or a bulk discount when buying in volume
• need specific B2B selection (pack sizes/pallets/product assortment)
• want white-glove or desk-side delivery and/or installation services

Another way that we have made it easy to fulfill your last-minute needs quickly is with our storefronts tailored for B2B customers. These specialty storefronts are a one-stop destination that showcases top products based on specific needs. These include break room supplies, MRO supplies, AbilityOne® products, and more.

Monitor through analytics and reporting

One of the challenges of needing a strategic e-procurement vendor is that it is harder to view and report on planned and tail-spend purchases. Insufficient insights have impacted spend reporting and negatively impacted set-aside goals. A 2022 Gartner report found that procurement leaders' biggest focus for the coming years is better category management and identifying and mitigating supplier risk. They recommend that procurement leaders prioritize supply continuity and risk mitigation in addition to the ever-present focus on cost management. With reporting, leaders can identify opportunities to move tail to managed spend through analytics, reporting, and proactive recommendations, while mitigating risk.

Amazon Business provides tailored insights to help organizations make spending decisions and consolidate suppliers. Agencies enrolled in the Business Prime program, a paid feature, can use our Spend Visibility to see real-time data on how much they have bought in a particular category or how much they have purchased from a veteran-owned small business within that specific category. With that data, it's also easy to share with their respective heads of departments. This level of reporting is an opportunity for the government entity to get full credit for all the mission-focused purchasing they're making and see that they are on track with their planned spend.

Amazon Business is your source for year-end buying needs

Amazon Business strives to be a one-stop shop that tailors reliable features and products for the unique needs of government organizations. We make it easy to drive savings for taxpayers. Tens of thousands of government customers, from buyers in cities, counties, states, and federal agencies, are purchasing from Amazon Business to track compliance with internal purchasing policies, reduce procurement complexity, and access unmatched selection breadth.

From savings to staying compliant with internal purchasing policies and reporting, there are several benefits in finding a trusted e-procurement vendor year-round or just for year-end spend. Learn how to get the most out of your budget by visiting business.amazon.com/government.

Originally published in June 2023 issue of National Contract Management Association