Amplifying North America’s purchasing power
In 2025, US state and local government procurement departments will focus on removing barriers to contracting, creating a more equitable and accessible environment. By emphasizing strategic procurement, they can better meet residents’ needs and align with city and state priorities. This is where Amazon Business comes in.
Amazon Business assists government departments of all sizes in managing their spending with a streamlined procurement process and wide range of products and services to make purchasing simpler. Through smart business buying, Amazon Business enhances efficiency, reduces costs, and ensures equitable access to resources—helping manage both routine and unexpected expenses. This approach supports the creation of a more inclusive procurement environment and helps align purchasing decisions with broader city and state goals.
Today, Amazon Business works with all 50 states and Washington D.C., serving 90 of the 100 most populous local governments. With features like purchasing controls and spend optimization tools, Amazon Business helps teams manage their overall spending effectively, ensuring compliance with government policies and supporting smart buying decisions beyond just one-off purchases.
Streamlining the procurement process
Oscar Montes is Amazon Business’ Director, US Government and Nonprofit. He explains that Amazon Business offers its customers the right pricing, selection and convenience. “These elements are fundamental to streamlining the procurement process for our customers, particularly in the government sector,” explains Montes. “We also recognize compliance as an important factor, alongside the mission of government agencies. Cost savings are paramount, and we are committed to enhancing them for our government clients through exclusive business pricing. This includes tailored quotes for bulk purchases and various categories. Our goal is to offer an extensive product selection; from office supplies to first responder equipment, we provide business-only pricing on over 53 million products, all available in one location via the Amazon Business store. Streamlining the procurement experience remains a priority.”
Since 2016, Amazon Business has worked with the City and County of Denver for purchasing card transactions, often smaller purchases across various categories. “Numerous agencies in the Denver area range from parks departments procuring supplies for children’s summer camps to councils providing shoes for unhoused community members, along with customers at the Denver airport who can swiftly obtain products, encompassing a wide array of services and support in between,” says Montes.
Competitive pricing
As a strong partner for strategic spend, Amazon Business’ competitive pricing and easy-to-use interface enable government procurement departments to enhance their purchasing power and align their spending with broader organizational priorities. Amazon Business’ advanced analytics and reporting capabilities provide valuable insights to help identify cost-saving opportunities and optimize procurement strategies. By leveraging Amazon Business’ end-to-end e-procurement solutions, government agencies can streamline their purchasing processes, improve spend visibility, and make more informed, strategic buying decisions that ultimately benefit their communities.
“We help to simplify e-procurement processes,” explains Montes. “We provide features including online and mobile purchasing options, allowing our customers to maintain multi-user accounts. Our approval workflows facilitate purchase control, while seamless integrations with over 150 procure-to-pay systems enhance visibility and control. These tools assist government departments in managing procurement effectively, ensuring compliance and operational efficiency.”
Navigating the market
Montes explains that one of the biggest opportunities identified by Amazon Business is the ability to leverage cooperative contracts, which offer state and local governments compliance tools to more easily acquire the products they need. “These contracts streamline staff processing, reduce costs through bulk purchases, and offer better pricing compared to the market, all while expanding opportunities for small, local, and diverse businesses,” says Montes. “We aim to further support Denver’s housing and safety initiatives, aligning our efforts with our customers’ priorities. In Denver, this includes a donor program that efficiently collects funds to supply products for both sheltered and unsheltered individuals. Additionally, our voucher system would provide essential choice to those supported by the city. Ultimately, our focus is on helping the city and county obtain what they need in an efficient manner.”
Amazon Business ensures it tailors its service to each specific customer, depending on their priorities. Montes realizes that every government agency has something different at the top of their agenda and a one-size-fits-all solution needs to be revised. “We have to adjust in order to be the best business partner that we can be, and we meet whatever our customers need us to,” he says. “Each government agency has different priorities. In certain cases, the primary focus may be on public safety or assisting individuals experiencing homelessness, and we adapt to become the business partner that our clients require.”
Driving forward
Sustainability is also a factor that is considered with Amazon Business increasing its customers’ utilization of sustainable products by offering tools to help promote more sustainable products through guided buying policies. “We’re able to help the state in identifying the types of more sustainable products they wish to feature in their search results and promote these options to guide purchasing decisions,” explains Montes. “At the end of the day, individuals can recognize that they have significantly increased their utilization of sustainable products. Additionally, reporting mechanisms are available to track progress against their goals for using these products, allowing for necessary adjustments to be made as needed.”
Looking ahead, Amazon Business is well-positioned to enhance its collaboration with government organizations and beyond. By actively engaging with key stakeholders and assessing specific needs, Amazon Business can customize its services to effectively support public sector partners of all sizes. This commitment to understanding and addressing individual requirements opens the door for innovation and improved service delivery.
Originally published in CPOstrategy.
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