Going, Going, Gone Online

摘要

There's a Revolution Going on in the government, and it involves military surplus. From the local police department to states and even the Department of Defense (DoD), executives in the public sector are transforming their handling of surplus items from a drain on their budgets into a wellspring of revenue. Refining the front end of the supply chain in the public sector has received much attention lately, with agencies at all levels of government incorporating many of the e-procurement tools and techniques of leading private-sector firms. However, while forward logistics has received a great deal of investment and consideration reverse logistics has been the oft-neglected part of the supply chain. Now, mimicking the best practices of reverse logistics found among private-sector firms, government agencies are realizing that online auctioning of the "castaway goods" they have stockpiled in their warehouses and yards can be an important element of remedying the nearly universal budget shortfalls faced at the local, state and federal levels.