Federal Procurement Not Ready for Web 2.0??

I regret that one news source seems to be the victim of my criticism more than others, but I have an issue with their reporting. I read an article today from Federal Computer Week contending that Federal Procurement is Not Ready for Web 2.0. I will take exception to this article on two fronts. First, I think that procurement is indeed embracing aspects of Web 2.0 and second, I think the author of the article doesn't understand what Web 2.0 actually is.

FCW has reported about GSA using a Wiki and their Better Buy experience. I know some of my peers are doing some interesting things, but I'll argue with this point strenuously. First, I'm using a Wiki to achieve consensus with a big work statement that my team is currently developing. This has been a great experience to get people to read and shape how they want to have the work performed. Second, I personally used LinkedIn to advertise an acquisition that I was in charge of. I can't take full credit, but I know that we had more offerors for this solicitation because of my marketing. We received 20 good proposals for the work and it was a difficult process to identify the best. So, yes, I think the federal sector is embracing Web 2.0 concepts to help acquisition and procurement.

However Web 2.0 is not just citizen involvement. That can be one audience that leverages Web 2.0 technology, but Web 2.0 is more centered around the people who are concerned with something having the ability to shape it and change it. Opening the doors to the public may not be the best scenario. A lot of the work we perform is not visible to the public, so I wonder how much utility can be gained from including a public input into my types of acquisitions. The author of the FCW article seems to think that Web 2.0 equates to citizen involvement. That is not correct. Web 2.0 uses technology to allow transparency and to build consensus. The stakeholders on these activities may or may not be the general public, it depends on the purpose and the content.