Policymakers: Case 1. Assessing the Impact of Legislative Changes

Assessing the impact of legislative changes serves as the foundation for planning future initiatives. 

Changes in conditions should impact the outcomes of government procurement. One assessment method involves comparing two periods: before and after the changes. 

Let’s look at an example of using a module to gather the necessary information.

Before proceeding with the practical implementation, let’s conduct some preparatory work. 

First, we need to decide on the case we will study and formulate a list of questions to which we seek answers.

For our case example, let’s consider an amendment to the federal procurement regulations in early 2022 aimed at reducing sole-source acquisitions. 

The key questions we’re interested in are:

• Was there an impact from the legislative changes?
• Was the impact sustained?
• What were the underlying factors?

To examine this case, we need the capability to:

• Choose the key performance indicators (KPIs) that interest us.
• Compare these KPIs before and after the changes.

In the context of our case, we are interested in changes in non-competitive procurement methods. In the analytics section of the main vertical menu, you can find a tab labeled “Non-Competitive Procurements.”

Within this tab, key performance indicators are displayed at the top, including the number of contracts awarded, the value of non-competitive contracts, and the percentage of non-competitive contract items by number and by value. We are particularly interested in changes in the last indicator.

The lower part features a chart titled “Rankings,” where you can sort the selected data. In this case, the metric used is the value of non-competitive contracts. You can change this to any of the four indicators. In the left drop-down menu, you can choose the dimension by which the ranking should be conducted. Let’s select “Justification for Use.”

The filter field allows you to choose a period for study. Comparing the two periods in the “Non-Competitive Procurements” tab shows that the average percentage of non-competitive procurements dropped from 65% in 2021 to 41% in 2022. A comparison of Q1 2023 and 2022 using the period axis in the dynamic chart shows that the trend continues.

Initial analysis revealed an actual reduction in the percentage of non-competitive procurements, but the module allows for further investigation into the reasons and processes. 

Choosing “Justification Method” in the ranking chart shows that the largest justification for non-competitive procurement is educational purchases, which have been exempted from federal procurement. Hence, there has been a reclassification of government expenditures.