Some procurement officials are using low prices set during reverse auctions as a starting point in further negotiations with sellers. Once a price is determined by reverse auction, contracting agents continue discussions with vendors to add in best-value elements, such as warranties or service agreements. Once sellers are identified, a procurement employee can buy the goods with a government purchase card. OFPP wanted agencies to have the freedom to experiment with the auctions so they could come up with effective ways of using them, Brown says. From the agencies' perspective, much of the concern about abandoning best-value procurements is misplaced.
Reverse auctions have the potential to turn government purchasers into better business people.
Many of the companies that provide auctioning technology focus on performing pre-auction investigations to find and qualify prospective bidders and to scope out the market conditions for a product. Federal buyers can become savvier purchasers using that kind of research. They become able to conduct reverse auctions on their own without private assistance. As more and more agencies equip themselves with tools that give them greater room to negotiate, such as reverse auctions, they will find ways to assure both best price and best value. Most purchasers don't see reverse auctions as a magic bullet that attracts would-be suppliers to every kind of purchase imaginable.