Council Seeks to Reduce Costs of Software Purchases

September 18, 2003

Council Seeks to Reduce Costs of Software Purchases
Purchasing Partnership to be Explored

Keeping King County’s technical edge means constant upgrades for software and operating systems. The Metropolitan King County Council wants to save money on these often-costly upgrades by partnering with other municipalities in a purchasing alliance and encouraging software vendors to support their products for longer periods of time. The Council today unanimously approved a motion directing the executive to investigate the possibility of joining such an alliance in order to cut costs.

“Although technology changes in the blink of an eye, we aim to get software deals that last a little longer than that,” said Larry Phillips, chair of the Budget & Fiscal Management Committee. “By teaming with other municipalities that are facing fiscal challenges just like King County, we can save money in the same way we saved $337,000 by partnering with the City of Seattle in purchasing cell phone plans,” said Phillips.

“We need to invest in technology that provides a direct outcome of increased services to our residents,” said Budget vice chair Jane Hague. “We should not have Cadillac tastes when we decide upon these services, and software companies need to recognize the limitations of government spending. A purchasing alliance could be a very strong wake-up call to vendors.”

Just like the private sector, the County is faced with a constant demand for upgrading its software applications as they expire. Many state and local governments rely on similar consumer-based software, and collaborating with other municipalities could save taxpayer money and provide an incentive for software vendors to offer as a selling point longer technical-support contracts. The Council motion directs the executive to investigate if there are any cost benefits to joining a software purchasing alliance, and report back to the Budget and Fiscal Management Committee by March 2004.

Read more about this legislation on the King County Council’s LEGISEARCH system and type in “2003-0409”