Innovate: Fix the foundation—procurement reform is Guam’s gateway to innovation
Published at guampdn.com first and third Fridays
published guampdn.com June 20, 2025
If Guam is serious about becoming a 21st century technology and innovation hub, we first need to get our government house in order.
Before we talk about artificial intelligence, green energy, or a high tech-driven future, we must confront an absolute truth that was laid bare at the Government of Guam Procurement Summit held on June 12 at Hyatt Regency Guam: Our procurement system is broken, and it’s costing us time, money, and public trust.
Transforming Guam is going to require agile, nimble, flexible, resilient, and reliable government processes to plan, execute and manage the tech-driven island growth we need.
The problems with the procurement system are emblematic of broader changes and improvements necessary to transform the island. Moreover, a greatly improved procurement system will be necessary to enable transformative growth.
The conference, jointly organized by the Guam Chamber of Commerce, Guam Contractors Association, and Guam Travel & Tourism Association, brought together leaders from across government and the private sector to diagnose the dysfunction and propose tangible solutions.
I applaud Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero for identifying problems and convening a procurement reform working group to review and recommend potential improvements to Guam’s procurement laws.
Call for compliance, accountability
Public Auditor B.J. Cruz’s keynote address was a candid and sobering account of the pervasive non-compliance with Guam’s procurement laws.
He reminded the audience that a 2011 law established the Procurement Advisory Council and mandated training for all procurement personnel. Yet, as of today, many agencies still fail to comply. Procurement officers remain untrained.
Worse, some departments ignore the requirement to post their solicitations on the centralized website, notices.guam.gov, rendering the process opaque and inefficient.
Cruz emphasized that the problem is not the absence of laws, but the failure to enforce them. Without an accountability mechanism, even well-crafted legislation becomes meaningless. His message was clear: follow the law or fix the law but stop ignoring it.
Fix what we already have
The most powerful ideas coming out of the summit weren’t about radical reform. They were about finally doing what has long been required. Here are some of my observations:
Enforce existing legislation. Ensure that all procurement personnel complete mandatory training and that agencies comply with laws already on the books.
Mandate use of a common procurement portal. Every procurement action should be posted on a centralized website to ensure transparency, equal access, and data collection.
Accept national training programs. Online National Association of State Procurement Officials courses should be recognized and widely adopted to build a competent, certified procurement workforce.
Create a vendor database. A centralized North American Industry Classification System-coded vendor registry—like the federal System for Award Management system—would improve vendor discovery and competition.
Track procurement activity internally. Implement systems that monitor and document each step in execution of the procurement process to support continuous improvement.
Publish an annual non-compliance report. Agencies that fail to correct procurement violations identified by OPA should be listed by name, along with the status of corrective actions. The Guam Legislature should make review of current non-compliance a mandatory part of all annual department budget request hearings to ensure that appropriated funds are being put toward needed corrective actions.
Setting the foundation before transformation
We cannot innovate into the future if we’re tripping over the past and the present. Real innovation starts with well-run institutions such as:
departmental strategic plans with clear product and service delivery metrics and key performance indicators; and
Standard Operating Procedures mapped to originating statutes and overarching policy guidance, and internal compliance systems that involve government departmental workers in auding, tracking and correcting their own non-compliance and deficiencies.
These are not glamorous tasks, but they are needed to launch modernization and innovation. This is about fixing the systems and processes, modernizing the tools, and creating a public-sector culture of continuous improvement.
Another observation. The government of Guam lacks a credible Quality Management System that:
provides an effective and efficient means of identifying and correcting problems
proactively plans for compliance and achieving desired performance levels through documentation of work processes, procedures and output measures
provides systematic internal procedures for assessing, documenting, reporting, tracking and correcting non-compliance to standards/requirements
builds a culture, system, forums for continuous improvement.
GovGuam directors need to be empowered to develop and implement an effective Quality Management System in their departments.
Let’s stop kicking the can down the road. Let’s clean up the foundation now, so we can build the future Guam deserves.
Our future depends on our ability to always be innovating.
Robert Jackson is the president of The M.O.S.T. Services. He is a retired Air Force colonel with 27 years service. Jackson is experienced in acquisition, logistics, business development, quality and process improvement in the federal government and the private sector. He hosts The Innovate Guam Podcast. You can contact him at rob.jackson@themostservices.com.