Suppose you were a small businessman who wanted to buy some computer equipment and software for your company. You might check the Web for some prices, then head over to J&R Computerworld with a credit card and make your purchase. The whole process might take an hour or two.

Suppose, instead, that you work for the City of New York. First you’d create something called a “presolicitation review report.” Then you’d create a “solicitation document.” Then you’d send it over to the city law department. Then you’d place a notice in a newspaper called the City Record, which is published by the city. Then you’d wait for computer companies to respond. If any did, the Department of Labor Services of the city’s Department of Business Services would review the computer company’s compliance with equal employment opportunity rules. Then the city’s department of finance would check the whether the company has paid its taxes. The city’s department of investigations would check whether the computer company is under investigation. If the city and the computer store enter into a contract, it would be reviewed by the law department and registered by the city comptroller. Before that happens, a second notice would be printed in the City Record giving notice for a public hearing. The hearing is held, and, in four out of five cases, no member of the public will show up. A year later, with luck, the city has bought its computers — which, at this point, are well on their way to obsolescence.

True, the city makes some small purchases more quickly and with less red tape, thanks to advances made in the Giuliani administration. Some of the safeguards do help guard against corruption. Still, a report released earlier this year by the Citizens Budget Commission calls the city’s procurement process “poorly managed.” As far as paperwork, suffice it to say that the system produces 12 million sheets of paper annually, each representing the time it takes to complete and move through the system. Each of those pieces of paper is handled by a worker paid by your tax dollars.

All of this would be of mere amusement value if Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council weren’t poised to raise your taxes on the by-now-evidently faulty assumption that New York city already runs so efficiently that there are no significant savings to be found in the city’s $42 billion budget. The Citizens Budget Commission report proposes setting up a new procurement entity that would offer one-stop oversight as well as a central point of contact for venders to interact with the city. This single point of contact would also be responsible for creating an electronic marketplace. Such systems exist in the City of Wichita as well as in the State of Virginia, the State of Maryland, and the State of Idaho, where they’ve yielded significant savings by increasing competition for contracts.

Most estimates of the cost savings are between 5% and 15%. At 10%, the city would save $135 million on purchases of goods. At 15%, that would shoot to $197 million. And this only covers the $1.2 billion a year purchased in goods. There would also likely be significant savings in construction and in contracts for services.