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Similarly, Teresa Eastman,
Inside Sales Manager for Accurate Safety Distributors, Inc. states “I no longer have to spend my days looking for bids individually, a needle in a haystack so to speak, instead (the bid service) does it all and sends them to me daily."
While no service can provide your company with every bid opportunity from every state and local government agency, bid matching services greatly reduce a vendor’s time and money spent, allowing for additional time to be used to respond to bids.
e-Procurement Benefits for Government: Save time, Save money
In
recent past most agencies had to copy and mail their bid packages to any vendor who requested them, even though many would decide not to bid. Using an online e-procurement system allows agencies to simply provide vendors an electronic notice of their opportunities. This results in a tremendous savings in postage, paper, and time.
There have also been new efforts to simplify
entire procurement process for government agencies. For example, many agencies are having procurement systems customized for them using
Internet, driven by
need to disclose. Agencies used to be required to advertise all their requests for bid in
newspaper. But in recent years,
statutes in many states changed to permit advertising on
Web instead - which meets purchasing departments’ requirements to make contract information public.
While posting bid information may seem like a lot of work, it isn't a duplicate process for government agencies because their sites serve a dual role as a vehicle for disclosure, and as their primary document archive. And usually only a minimal staff is required to keep
site up to date.
Karen Storm, director of Purchasing for Albany County, NY, explains that since joining
Capital Region Purchasing Group, an e-procurement system in upstate NY, “…our municipality has streamlined
bid distribution and vendor notification processes. This has saved us hours of repetitive clerical tasks and has significantly reduced our copying and mailing costs. Our vendors love
system because it provides them immediate access to our information at little or no cost.”
The City of Rochester Hills, Michigan, reports similar benefits, explaining that they have realized a savings of over $355,000 by posting approximately 85 solicitations from January to June of 2004 on their e-procurement system,
Michigan Inter-Governmental Trade Network. And,
Santa Rosa County School District Purchasing Department, which has been using an e-procurement system since
fall of 2000, says “The biggest benefit we have realized is that we no longer have to manage our bidder’s list. Our old bidder’s list had grown to over 20,000 vendors, most of whom never responded to solicitations. Managing
list was a burden that we do not miss!”
Many companies have been working with Purchasing Departments, to create customized e-procurement systems like
ones described above, that simplify and expedite
entire procurement process. And
best part is, they do this free of charge.
E-procurement systems provide many benefits for vendors as well. Vendors simply register themselves online with a system and create a profile specific to their products and/or services. Vendors then receive notices instantly by fax or e-mail every time bids are issued that match their profile and are given
ability to respond to quotes by fax or e-mail.
Systems like this can save companies significant amounts of time while increasing sales, it’s also a good way for tax dollars to help grow businesses of all sizes and generating new profit centers. At
same time, government agencies benefit by decreasing their spending, gaining more control and simplifying
procurement process.
What are you waiting for? The new era of “e-procurement” is here, and it has significantly streamlined
entire bidding process for both buyers and sellers alike.

Christina DeMers is the Marketing Coordinator for BidNet, a firm that has been providing services for both government buyers and their vendors, for almost 20 years. More information about BidNet can be found at their web site: http://www.bidnet.com or by calling: (800)-677-1997.