Introduction:

Managing IT across public safety, utilities, or municipal departments often means juggling multiple vendors. One for connectivity. One for phones. One for hardware. Another for support. While this may seem normal, it’s a hidden drag on budgets, timelines, and service quality.

The Problem:

A recent survey by the National Association of State CIOs (NASCIO) found that 71% of state and local IT leaders cite “vendor management complexity” as a major operational challenge(NASCIO, 2023).

Here’s what agencies typically face:

• Multiple support numbers and reps= confusion. When something breaks, it’s unclear who owns the fix.
  
  
• Overlapping or inconsistent bills= waste. Without centralized management, agencies often pay for duplicate services.
  
  
• No single point of accountability= poor issue resolution. When problems arise, vendors blame each other—and the agency suffers.
  
  

The Hidden Costs:

• Staff time spent chasing vendors and managing relationships
  
  
• Delays in procurement or deployment due to coordination gaps
  
  
• Difficulty scaling or adapting IT infrastructure across departments

The Solution:

First Response ITeliminates vendor overload. As a vendor-agnostic advisor, we help you keep the providers you trust while consolidating communication, contracts, and support under one roof. You choose the vendors—we manage the relationship, streamline billing, and provide a consistent point of contact for all issues.

This means:

• Fewer meetings
• Unified billing
• One throat to choke when something goes wrong

Source:

National Association of State CIOs (NASCIO). (2023). Top Ten Policy and Technology Priorities for State CIOs. Retrieved from https://www.nascio.org/publications/top-ten-policy-and-technology-priorities-for-state-cio-2023/