City of Boise expands vendor outreach through e-sourcing
When putting a solicitation out to bid, a government organization’s goal is to get a fair and competitive price for its taxpayer’s money. This is often a result of getting as many responses to the bid or quote back as possible. Vendor outreach is often the key to better competition: the more vendors an open solicitation reaches, the more responses (and better value) the buying organization should receive. Colin Millar, Purchasing Manager/Procure to Pay Manager for the City of Boise, Idaho needed to expand their purchasing process to include an easy solution for growing vendor outreach. After conducting some research on existing e-sourcing solutions, the City decided BidNet Direct was the platform that met its needs.
Why BidNet Direct?
The City of Boise was not reaching the number of vendors they would like, both locally within Idaho and nationally for service contracts. While researching, Millar discovered the success BidNet Direct had within other regions throughout the country, including nearby Colorado with the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System. With over 1,200 local governments utilizing BidNet Direct’s e-sourcing solution, Millar had heard of the solid reputation for vendor outreach, ease-of-use, and communal tools like the shared bid library. The City then found the quick on-boarding process for new participating agencies that BidNet Direct provided. The Idaho Purchasing Group was launched in 2018, with the City of Boise as its first participating agency; and within a day the City was publishing bids and documents online to a growing vendor audience. Millar explained that the ease-of-use for vendors and staff ultimately made the decision. "We ultimately decided on BidNet [Direct] first of all because the registration is so easy and intuitive that we don't even have to include a manual on how to do this.” Millar continues “Also it's real time. Vendors can register today and download documents today… so far it's been very intuitive.” Millar also commented on his staff’s use of the Purchasing Group, stating “Our staff that has had to work with it has become very comfortable with [the platform].”
Change management
It’s not surprising that Millar’s staff is comfortable using the Idaho Purchasing Group to post and distribute solicitations, as they had a large role in the decision for the change. When discussing the process involved in making a change to purchasing guidelines or tools the team utilizes, Millar states that "When we considered options for our [bid] distribution service, we identified BidNet Direct. Rather than making the decision that we were going with that, we involved our entire staff in all of the demos. So the staff saw the tool in use, and after that demo we went off on our own and talked about it and then we decided that we needed more information.” He continued “as a team, we learned through the whole process. So when the decision time came, the whole team was on board because they made the decision.” Involving his staff in the demonstration and decision making processes allowed Millar to reduce the adjustment that usually occurs when implementing a new purchasing tool.
Sourcing benefits beyond vendor outreach
The Idaho Purchasing Group provides the City of Boise with tools that the team can use to save time. “We'll start with the plan holder’s list. Any time someone downloads a document they're added to the plan holder’s list.” says Millar. The feature saves local government agencies like Boise time, as their staff no longer has to build and maintain their own bidder’s lists. The feature is often utilized for construction bids, with Millar saying “Specifically for construction projects, where you have a general contractor, but then you also have sub-contractors. So without that, there's no way for the generals to know which subs have the plans. And there's no way for the subs to know who to submit their proposals to for the prime contractors. So this method allows that communication very easily without my staff being involved and answering questions.” Millar’s team simply directs interested subs or primes to BidNet Direct, where the documents are downloadable and plan holder’s lists are viewable.
Another feature that is used by the City of Boise is the platform’s electronic bid submission (EBS) and it’s sealed bids. While Millar realizes that it isn’t feasible for every solicitation to receive electronic bids, he does say they try to offer electronic submissions “whenever possible”. This feature allows the agency to eliminate paper and therefore save them time from having to later digitally scanning received bid submissions. “We think it's a service to our vendors and also we end up going digital once we get the paper copies anyway. So if we can avoid the paper in the first place, we do” says Millar. The City of Boise also utilizes the sealed bid feature of EBS on the platform. The platform allows vendors to submit bids before the closing deadline, and all bids remained sealed until the closing time. All submitted bids will be unlocked at the same time and allows for fairness and transparency. Idaho requires sealed bid submission, and Millar explains “Sealed bids are a requirement of the state, and [BidNet Direct] provides us with that [requirement].”
The platform also utilizes the standard NIGP codes within its solicitation creation and vendor registration process. NIGP Codes are commonly used among local government agencies to categorize the goods or service they are soliciting. Upon registering to BidNet Direct, vendors select the codes for goods or services they can provide, allowing them to be matched and receive alerts for relevant solicitations. The City of Boise utilizes these codes, and supports the NIGP national and local guidelines in general. Millar adds "All of our Purchasing Specialists belong to NIGP, and specifically IPPA [Idaho Public Purchasing Association] for the local chapter. A lot of the training that I send my staff to is done through NIGP." The familiarity level of NIGP codes and known procurement practices are useful for purchasing specialists using BidNet Direct.
Growing the Idaho Purchasing Group
One of the many features of BidNet Direct is its multiple regional Purchasing Groups and the community of local buyers and vendors. The shared vendor database and bid library are tools for government purchasing teams looking to save time and effort. Since the Idaho Purchasing Group launched in the spring of 2018, the vendor pool is still in the growth stage. However, new vendors are registering daily, and there tens of thousands of pre-registered vendors on BidNet Direct for the City to reach out to as well. The City of Boise has been pointing its current vendors to their own individualized page, where they can register on the platform and take advantage of the Vendor Support team, who are there to answer any questions. BidNet Direct’s Vendor Support team is available Monday-Friday from 6am-6pm PST, by phone or email.
The more local governments within Idaho that utilize the Purchasing Group, the higher the number of registered vendors becomes. This is something that doesn’t escape Millar, with him explaining “I think that the more agencies that use it in Idaho, then the larger our vendor pool will become and we can really capitalize on each other’s work [through the shared bid library].” Having agencies statewide registered within the Idaho Purchasing Group is a benefit for vendors too, providing them with a one-stop location for government bids. All registered vendors have access to documents and open bids from all participating government agencies, even if the vendor registers with the no-cost option. BidNet Direct offers vendors different types of registration options, including both the no-cost option and the value-added features that are attached to a small annual fee.
With all of the features that the Idaho Purchasing Group provides, the purchasing team at the City of Boise decided to become the first agency within Idaho to participate on BidNet Direct. The solution provides the City of Boise with easy to use purchasing tools at no-charge while expanding their vendor outreach.
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