PROJECT BRIEF

BACKGROUND

The City of Boston, Massachusetts is looking to develop clear guidelines for its technology procurement process that align with its goals of transparency and equitable access. Paragon’s objective is to create comprehensive internal and external guidelines for acquiring interoperable technology solutions in order to assist those overseeing procurement processes or directly procuring technology.

AIMS

The ultimate goal is to provide the City of Boston staff and contractors with a framework to evaluate procurement decisions, ensuring that technologies meet legal, technical, ethical, and community standards. Through thorough analysis of procurement research and stakeholder interviews, the team identified three core pillars to guide ethical and effective technology procurement.

METHODOLOGY

The project team divided up the project scope based on research, data, and stakeholder engagement. By conducting a literature review on the technology procurement landscape, outlining standards for data interoperability and data integration, and conducting 1:1 interviews with City employees about the city-specific procurement process, the students were able to expand upon the limitations of procurement standards and scope out a framework for ensuring equity and accessibility in procured technology.

DELIVERABLES

The project team developed an internal 20-page technology procurement guideline for the City of Boston employees, establishing guiding values for the City of Boston's technology procurement process. The guideline is structured to develop actionable pathways for refining the technology procurement process and have incorporated legal requirements and case studies for practical application. The guideline also identifies three core pillars for technology procurement: (1) community focus, (2) technological infrastructure, and (3) communication and cooperation.

IMPACT AND FUTURE WORK

With technology procurement being a critical part of DoIT's government processes, this deliverable will guide City employees in providing clarity to the technology procurement process and establishing new standards for the role of procurement in their respective departments. By doing so, this can contribute to a more formal procurement management function and simplify the traditional procurement experience to be more efficient and frictionless.