When Y2K problems forced Seattle to redo its financial management system, automation of the procurement process was part of the proposed package. In anticipation of the major conversion, the procurement office set out to analyze its business process. The findings were somewhat startling. "There were a lot of negative perceptions about how Seattle does its purchasing," says Melody Mociulski, head of purchasing for the city. "We decided to do a spin-off project to dig deeper into re-engineering efforts."

That was the birth of Seattle's Copernicus, a project aimed at figuring out how to leverage the city's buying power more appropriately. Under the old system, the procurement department would receive a request from an agency for, say, janitorial supplies. A buyer would put out a solicitation and award the contract. The next week, another agency would come in with a similar request for janitorial supplies. "We didn't have the communications infrastructure to realize that, as a city, we would need a whole bunch of janitorial supplies," Mociulski says, adding that the analysis also showed that 80 percent of what the city buys in goods and services could be divided into 18 commodity groups. "What we did was not rocket science, but we hadn't done it before," she says. "We set up a commodity-driven approach to procurement."

There are teams for each commodity group, and the teams have representatives from the primary user departments. "It was always a struggle when doing a solicitation to identify who the end users with the right expertise were," Mociulski says. "Now we make sure they are at the table and participating on an ongoing basis." A professional buyer who knows contract strategy is on each team. In addition, the teams may also have a member who represents particular social values that Seattle wants to factor into its procurements, such as a representative for environmental concerns.

As the program matures, the teams take on a life of their own: Some are becoming problem-solving entities -- the place for city employees to go when they need an expert's advice. They've also become a citywide voice to the vendor community.

Copernicus' fiscal benefits since the fledging program got underway in 1999 are surpassing Mociulski's expectations: An analysis predicts $17.5 million in savings through 2006, including savings from leveraging buying power and from process efficiencies.

There's another, less tangible benefit: the program's popularity. The mayor's office wants to know more about it. Ditto the city council. People in city government are asking to participate. "They all want to jump on the bandwagon," Mociulski says. "It's exciting when purchasing gets noticed in a positive way."

For more information: Melody Mociulski, Purchasing Services Manager, 600 4th Ave., Seattle, Washington; phone: 206-684-5022; e-mail: melody.mociulski@ci.seattle.wa.us