SPARC announced today that it has joined the Michigan Bid System, a regional purchasing group that helps educational resources and consortiums, school districts, universities and colleges post, distribute and manage RFPs, quotes, addendums and awards online.
SPARC joined the purchasing group in July. In joining, SPARC has become the 480th participating local school district utilizing the system to streamline the purchasing process. The Michigan Bid System is a single, online location for managing sourcing information and activities and provides local Michigan school districts, universities and colleges a method to minimize costs and time delays associated with the procurement process. SPARC was distributing bids and managing the procurement process manually before joining the system. In joining, SPARC looks to save time, increase competition and achieve cost savings over the traditional paper-based bid process.
SPARC now has access to an extensive vendor pool, thereby enhancing competition without increasing distribution costs. In addition to the existing vendors on the Michigan Bid System, all vendors looking to respond to bids with school districts, universities and colleges can register online: www.bid4michigan.com. SPARC invites all current vendors not already registered on the purchasing group to do so today. Vendor registration is easy and takes only a few minutes online.
Registered vendors can access bids, related documents, addendum and award information. In addition, the Michigan Bid System offers a value-added service to notify vendors of new bids targeted to their industry, all addenda associated with those bids and advance notice of term contract expiration. A robust NIGP code category list allows vendors registering to find the correct codes and receive matched bids.
“By using the Michigan Bid System, our valued vendors can now access not only our open bids, but those from other school districts, universities and colleges throughout the state. In addition to the time savings we anticipate, our vendors will also benefit from registering in one location for all local bid opportunities. We invite all of our current vendors to register or contact the vendor support team with any questions,” stated Terri Sincock, Executive Director of SPARC.
Vendors may register on the Michigan Bid System: www.bid4michigan.com. BidNet’s vendor support team is available to answer any questions regarding the registration process or the bid system at 800-835-4603 option 2.
Other local Michigan school districts, universities and colleges looking to switch from a manual bid process, please contact the Michigan Bid System for a demonstration of the no-cost sourcing solution.
About SPARC | School Purchasing and Resource Consortium:
Healthy children build healthy communities, and healthy meals build healthy kids. SPARC, The School Purchasing and Resource Consortium, was developed by food service directors who joined together as a team. That means we understand the issues you face and are uniquely suited to helping you provide the freshest, healthiest and tastiest meals for your students, at the best possible value. Together, we can enhance our buying power, keep food costs under control and maximize our USDA entitlement dollars. With our annual conference and food fair, one-on-one assistance from a trained professional and a host of other resources, we work together to make sure every child in your community can enjoy a healthy meal.