Accelerate government procurement for tech skills

Government agencies need to equip their teams with the right skills to support their constituents. But government procurement for tech skills is often a months-long process. 

In the United States, the average time for a government agency to sign a contract with a vendor can range from a few months to more than a year, depending on the contract's complexity and value. 

In a rapidly changing workplace, time is crucial for agency leaders. They need to develop their teams’ technical skills and accelerate mission critical outcomes now—not months from now.

They need accelerated procurement processes for training. They need processes that make it easier to onboard their learning platform provider of choice while meeting their agency’s procurement requirements. 

That's where AWS Marketplace can help.

AWS Marketplace operates on the same premise as Amazon.com, but for enterprise software and solutions. It hosts a wide range of products, from data analytics and DevOps solutions to learning resources like Pluralsight's hands-on skill development platform.

Government agencies can quickly purchase and onboard enterprise software through AWS Marketplace in a matter of days or weeks rather than months. Here are five benefits of using AWS Marketplace for government training and vendor onboarding.

AWS Marketplace uses existing, pre-approved contracts (like Omnia, GSA, and state contracts). This eliminates the need for lengthy vendor onboarding and complex legal negotiations, dramatically accelerating your time-to-solution.

While a product may show a list price, Marketplace vendors can negotiate a Private Offer with custom pricing and terms specifically for your organization. Don't pay list price—always engage your vendor rep.

Once you've purchased a solution from the Marketplace, you can usually deploy it in a few days. The process is streamlined, secure, and can involve the partner directly to ensure a smooth launch.

Say goodbye to scattered spreadsheets. The Marketplace provides a single pane of glass to view all your purchased solutions, track renewal dates, monitor usage, and manage costs across all vendors.

One of the biggest advantages of transacting through AWS Marketplace is the ability to consolidate and optimize costs. It provides the level of transparency government agencies need in the purchasing and procurement process. This includes:

• A single AWS bill for all services: Consolidate payments for 20, 30, or more different vendors into a single, itemized bill from AWS. You pay AWS, and AWS handles paying the partners.
• Detailed spend visibility: The centralized portal gives you deep insight into your usage and spend. This allows you to identify over-provisioning (for example, paying for 100 licenses but only using 50). You can then adjust to optimize costs and pay only for what you need.
• Flexible payment allocation: It’s easy to assign purchase order numbers and slice the payment process in various ways to suit your internal financial tracking needs.

You can use the AWS Marketplace to deliver critical tech skill development to your teams with AWS Partner Pluralsight. 

Pluralsight's skill development platform is designed for outcome-driven tech learning. It focuses on key domains for government agencies like AI, machine learning, cloud, and cybersecurity. 

Pluralsight helps teams develop critical tech skills with real-world application through:

Employees can take Skill IQ assessments to determine their current proficiency. Depending on their score, they can bypass beginner content and focus directly on what they need to learn, saving significant time.

Pluralsight offers video courses, hands-on labs, and sandboxes for real-world practice in AI and cloud environments. As a result, team members can put their skills to the test without incurring extra cloud costs or unnecessary risks in a live environment.

Pluralsight helps learners at government agencies prepare for certification exams from AWS, CompTIA, and more. The platform also supports compliance with key government directives.

With Pluralsight, you help your teams fill skills gaps across cloud, AI, and security. By extension, you ensure projects stay on track and manage new technologies effectively.

While you can purchase solutions directly through AWS Marketplace, most agency software procurement best practices include transactions with a trusted channel partner like Carahsoft. 

Together with AWS and Pluralsight, Carahsoft uses the Designated Seller of Record (DSOR) model, which simplifies complex deals in a few key ways.

First, Carahsoft acts as a fully managed service. It handles the creation of the Private Offer, communication between all parties (vendor, reseller, and customer), and billing on the vendor's behalf.

Carahsoft uses the DSOR model, which provides four distinct transacting slots: Vendor, Distributor, Reseller, and Customer. This makes it easy to involve channel partners who act as the prime contractor for the customer and solve complex billing and contracting issues.

Once the quote is finalized, Carahsoft uploads it as a Private Offer. The designated reseller (if applicable) extends it to the end customer. The customer reviews, accepts, and pays, triggering the seamless payout to the partners.

For agencies looking to quickly deploy Pluralsight’s learning platform or any other solution, AWS Marketplace and Carahsoft offer a highly efficient process that saves time, offers procurement flexibility, and retains the benefits of consolidated billing and AWS incentives.

Get more tips on government procurement for tech skills—watch the on-demand webinar.