The reasons behind delays include legal complexity and reaching agreement around budgeting, according to a Gartner report. Credit: Dell Technologies Government organizations have the longest average buying cycle for technology when compared to other sectors, with procurement laws injecting complexity into the procurement process, according to a Gartner report. The report, which is based on a survey of 1,120 executives with the inclusion of 79 public sector employees across the US, Canada, France, Germany, the UK, Australia and Singapore, showed that the average buying cycle for government entities is 22 months. This is in contrast to at least 48% of all respondents saying that their buying cycle for technology averaged around six to seven months. “Technology acquisition brings challenges to the public sector that do not commonly exist in other industries,” said Dean Lacheca, vice president and analyst at Gartner. “Each jurisdiction has its own procurement laws and policies, and within that, each agency or department can have its own interpretation of them. A failure to conform to the rules can have serious consequences, from unwanted publicity to personal risk of prosecution,” Lacheca added. Some of the other reasons behind the delay include changes in scope, research and evaluation along with reaching an agreement around budgeting. Many respondents also said that these delays occur before the beginning of the procurement process, with at least 74% of public sector respondents claiming that developing a business case for purchases takes a long time. More than 76% said that scope changes requiring additional research and evaluation was also another major factor resulting in delays, Gartner said, adding that 75% of respondents listed reaching agreement around budgeting as a major concern for delays in the buying decision. “While government buying cycles can be long, it is important to note that these time frames are not set,” said Lacheca. “Initial planned timelines can be delayed as a result of a combination of both controllable and uncontrollable factors, especially when no external deadlines exist.” Government procurement teams are large A typical public sector buying team has 12 participants, with varying levels of participation in the process, Gartner said, adding that government C-level executives tend to be less involved in the technology buying process when compared to the private sector in order to avoid association with the process and creating the perception of political influence in the outcome. This also makes government C-level executives less willing to defend the process if challenged by unsuccessful vendors or the media, the research firm said. Further, the survey shows that public sector buying teams are more likely to be composed of lower-level operational staff, who act as subject matter experts providing recommendations to their C-suite. At least 68% of public sector respondents claim that another reason for delay is their inability to obtain specific product or implementation requirements details from the provider, Gartner said. The research firm adds that public sector organizations are significantly more likely to value references from existing clients than non-public sector buyers, partly because public sector organizations are rarely in direct competition and often share common challenges. Related content news Salesforce debuts Zero Copy Partner Network to ease data integration The new ecosystem of ISVs and systems integrators aims to help Salesforce customers leverage third-party data by providing bidirectional support for zero-copy integrations with Salesforce Data Cloud. By Thor Olavsrud Apr 25, 2024 6 mins Salesforce.com CRM Systems Data Management news Salesforce launches Einstein Copilot for general availability Salesforce today announced the general availability of its conversational AI assistant along with a library of pre-programmed ‘Actions’ to help sellers customers get the most out of the Copilot. By Thor Olavsrud Apr 25, 2024 4 mins Salesforce.com Artificial Intelligence brandpost Sponsored by JFrog Top 4 focus areas for securing your software supply chain Discover the fundamental components, threats, and recent innovations that will create both challenges and opportunities in 2024 as explored in JFrog’s research-based report that includes input from more than 1,200 technical and security profess By JFrog Apr 24, 2024 3 mins Security brandpost Sponsored by Broadcom A changing market landscape requires constant evolution: Our mission for VMware customers By Hock Tan, Broadcom President & CEO Apr 24, 2024 8 mins Cloud Computing PODCASTS VIDEOS RESOURCES EVENTS SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe