Everyone is wondering: When will the recession end? Will the stimulus work? If so, how long will it take?

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Though I’ve not seen it discussed, in my mind the #1 factor in determining the speed of economic recovery is government procurement efficiency. What is the value of the stimulus package? $787 billion? That’s a lot of government contracts to award, don’t you think – even if a portion of that total is tax cut and not spending related?

Is that additional workload going to be handled by existing government procurement professionals who are already working their existing projects? Or are new government procurement positions going to be created?

If the former, I hope that the various procurement departments have an established sourcing strategy. If the latter, I hope that there are plans for some fast track training of those folks.

After all, only the fate of the global economy depends on them doing a high-quality, high-speed job.