By David Yarkin
Originally published in the Wall Street Journal on March 7, 2025
The Trump administration will soon announce a cost-saving measure to centralize purchasing in the General Services Administration. Like other changes from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, this initiative will face fierce opposition from government employees who benefit from the status quo. But unlike mass layoffs and the takeover of federal IT systems, this is a change that fans of good government—even dyed-in-the-wool Democrats—ought to embrace. It has roots in both Republican and Democratic administrations. I know because I led such an initiative 20 years ago.
In 2003, Pennsylvania’s new governor inherited a $2 billion deficit. A centrist Democrat, Ed Rendell was determined to erase the deficit, which impaired his ability to enact campaign promises. He created the Office of Management and Productivity—the DOGE of its era—and hired a team of bright young consultants to pore over budget documents and organization charts to find ways to save. One recommendation was “strategic sourcing,” a procurement strategy that had swept through the private sector, in which purchasing decisions moved from many departments to a central authority. The idea was to reduce costs by maximizing buying power. As the state’s new chief procurement officer, my job was to implement the plan as fast as possible.
My team analyzed contracts, scrutinized orders, terminated existing agreements and created new ones, saving millions for taxpayers: $2 million on asphalt, $14 million on office supplies, $7 million on furniture. To publicize our initiative, we used the state’s loudest megaphone—Mr. Rendell himself—to announce new cost-saving contracts. Michael Dell joined the governor to announce Pennsylvania’s new personal-computer contract, which saved state taxpayers $19 million annually. Government procurement, once the boring beat for the press corps, became sexy…