PROJECT TEAM

The Boston team divided up the project scope based on research, data, and stakeholder engagement. By conducting a literature review on the technology procurement landscape, outlining standards for data interoperability and data integration, and conducting 1:1 interviews with City employees about the city- specific procurement process, the students were able to expand upon the limitations of procurement standards and scope out a framework for ensuring equity and accessibility in procured technology.

PROCESS

For the final deliverable, the students developed an internal 20-page technology procurement guideline for the City of Boston employees, establishing guiding values for the City of Boston's technology procurement process. They have structured these guidelines to develop actionable pathways for refining the technology procurement process and have incorporated legal requirements and case studies for practical application. The ultimate goal is for City staff and contractors to use this framework to evaluate procurement decisions, ensuring that technologies meet legal, technical, ethical, and community standards. Through thorough analysis of procurement research and stakeholder interviews, they identified three core pillars to guide ethical and effective technology procurement. They are as follows:

• Community Focus: Adhering to the needs of the community served by the City of Boston should influence the technologies implemented by the city.

• Technological Infrastructure: This pillar outlines guidelines for regulation, safe implementation, and architectural standards that technology goods and services should adhere to during development and maintenance.

• Communication and Cooperation: This pillar outlines the shared responsibilities for collaboration between the City of Boston and contractors in order to build and maintain technological systems effectively.

DELIVERABLES

With technology procurement being a critical part of DoIt's government processes, this deliverable will guide City employees in providing clarity to the technology procurement process and establishing new standards for the role of procurement in their respective departments. By doing so, this can contribute to a more formal procurement management function and simplify the traditional procurement experience to be more efficient and frictionless.

IMPACT

We give special thanks to Aleja Jimenez Jaramillo for the close guidance and mentorship in building out this project! We are also grateful to our stakeholder interviewees Casey, Laura, Jude, Julia, Sheila, and Greg in providing additional insights and feedback into the technology procurement process.

Contributors