Acquisition by Wiki?

Collaboration, crowdsourcing and social media may be the way forward when it comes to improving government processes.

The General Services Administration on Thursday launched two pilots from its Better Buy Project, a collaborative forum used to collect public feedback on how to improve the federal acqusition process. The initiative, which began in October, relied on social media tools to solicit innovative ideas that a small group of officials might not otherwise dream up.

"During the BetterBuy Project's first phase, it was incredibly exciting to see citizens collaborate in real-time on ideas central to GSA's mission," said Mary Davie, assistant commissioner for the Office of Assisted Acquisition Services in GSA's Federal Acquisition Service and the lead for the BetterBuy Project. "Now we can put those ideas into action and continue collaborating throughout the acquisition process to frame better requirements which will result in more creative and innovative solutions."

The first pilot uses a wiki and other social media tools such as Twitter to collect comments and questions on how to improve data storage and hosting on Data.gov. The second solicits feedback on the infrastructure of a new hosting environment.

Depending on the end result, a Better Buy-style collaboration tool also may prove useful for improving other government functions.