Coupa Helps Identify $14 Billion in Government Waste

Cloud-based platform can address $239 billion of government expenditures

SAN MATEO, Calif. – September 19, 2013 – As Congress prepares for budget showdown talks, Coupa Software, the leading provider in cloud-based spend optimization solutions for finance, today shared its analysis of the U.S. Federal Government’s spending in 2012. Analyzing the 2012 data collected from USAspending.gov, Coupa’s industry experts have determined the Federal Government could have realized $14 billion in annual cost savings. These savings are equivalent to the annual salary of 271,987 public school teachers or the average annual healthcare insurance costs for 2,493,321 Americans. (1)

Public records show in 2012 the Federal Government’s total budget through prime award contracts was $517 billion. Of those, at least $239 billion were for contracts related to indirect spend and services, a key addressable segment for Coupa's cloud-based platform. (2)

Some of the actual expenses include:

• $4.35 billion - dairy foods and eggs
• $1.44 billion - fruits and vegetables
• $1.23 billion - janitorial housekeeping
• $911 million - office furniture
• $610 million - office supplies
• $392 million - landscaping and grounds keeping

The U.S. Federal Government issues thousands of contracts to purchase products and services, such as hand tools (151,917 contracts), medical and surgical (132,608 contracts), drugs and biological (122,507 contracts), office supplies (112,781 contracts), professional support (74,347 contracts), dairy foods and eggs (63,664 contracts), and office furniture (47,149 contracts).

"These numbers hint at huge savings opportunities," said Amit Duvedi, vice president of business strategy, Coupa Software. "For example, with the visibility that Coupa's platform provides, many global organizations have been able to slash their number of contracts while increasing the percentage of spend under management against the contracts remaining. Using these and other strategies, they drive average savings of 6 to 10 percent in every spend category managed through Coupa. On office furniture alone, our government could save taxpayers more than $50 million using similar innovative strategies and tools." (3)

Because it is a true cloud platform, Coupa can be configured to meet each agency’s needs with minimal integration. Designed for the end user, Coupa’s interface is intuitive and convenient, enabling agencies to implement seamless processes across any finance organization including procurement, invoicing, and expense management to maximize savings and efficiency.

About Coupa Software
Founded in 2006, Coupa Software is the leading provider of cloud-based spend optimization software. More than 350 customers in 40 countries use the Coupa suite of cloud applications to amplify their spend power and reduce spending costs up to 10 percent. Only Coupa provides a suite of true cloud applications for finance, including procurement, expense management and accounts payable that enables customers to launch the solution immediately and quickly realize significant savings. Learn more at: coupa.com or call 650.931.3200. Read more on the Coupa Blog, or follow @Coupa on Twitter.

(1)  Based on information collected by Salary.com, an annual teachers salary of $51,473. Based on healthcare cost collected by Statistic Brain, a single, healthy individual’s policy is estimated to cost approximately  $5,615/annually.

(2)  Indirect spend includes any goods and services not directly incorporated into a product being manufactured.

(3)  The government’s spending and resulting deficit are further highlighted in the Monthly Treasury Statement of Receipts and Outlays of the United States Government, published by Financial Management Service, a bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury.