AWS includes government in BVR Competency program

Amazon Web Services is expanding its Business Value Realization Competency framework to government partners, offering the public sector its seal for evaluating the efficacy of technology partners and their products. 

Unveiled on Wednesday, the availability of the BVR to government partners is intended to help qualify the value of third-party implementations of AWS tech product deployments. Including government customers in the BVR is intended to offer AWS partners who are public sector contractors more funding and transparency in their government deliverables, primarily through quantifying tangible results during the procurement process. 

Metrics that the BVR measures across its qualified partners include cost savings, productivity gains, processing speeds and other real-world outcomes that can help an organization understand the benefit of their technology acquisitions and partnerships. Partner companies that receive AWS BVR Competency stamps effectively communicate to government customers that they have a track record of delivering measurable results. 

“Today, we are announcing that government customers — federal, state, local and education — now qualify for BVR through a [Public Sector] Legal-approved compliant framework,” Rishi Bhaskar, the public sector partnership lead at AWS, told Nextgov/FCW in a statement. “Government customers benefit directly from BVR funding because partners are required to pass through the full value of their funding to the customer. Every dollar of outcome-based funding flows to the government customer as professional services value — meaning the investment AWS makes in driving measurable outcomes ultimately reduces cost for the end customer.”

Under the BVR structure, AWS rewards partners for their implementation services having a tangible impact, which in turn provides lower costs to government clients. Bhaskar said that the insights offered by AWS’s BVR approach go beyond standard timelines and budget, analyzing what the new technology product adoption has given to agencies. 

“Public sector organizations are raising the bar on accountability for technology investments, and every dollar spent is being evaluated for demonstrable return,” Bhaskar said. “The need is urgent, but evaluating ROI in government is more complex than in commercial settings. Procurement cycles are longer, stakeholders are more numerous and success metrics must be operational. Partners and customers need a structured way to prove that AI investments represent measurable progress toward mission outcomes.”