How to justify an eProcurement solution

How to justify an eProcurement solution
May 2021

When we think of the daunting task of justifying a purchase for our department, it can seem overwhelming.  Purchasing professionals are in the business to save money, not to spend it.  I understand the dilemma being the former, Procurement Manager at the Indianapolis Airport Authority and the Indianapolis Zoo, a not-for-profit organization.  Procurement professionals often do not advocate for the tools they need to take their business function from tactical to strategic. Finance professionals have spent money on their financial systems for decades to streamline their business functions. Yet still today, many procurement professionals at governmental agencies continue using a manual process. Why? Often, the reason I hear is ‘how do I justify an eProcurement solution?’

Now is the time to investigate how an eProcurement solution or its additional features can benefit your staff, department, and organization.  You have done your job remotely during the pandemic while interacting virtually with suppliers and contractors. Looking at lessons learned, how can technology take your department to the next level?  Even if you are currently using technology for electronic bidding and vendor registration, how about other business functions such as project evaluation, contract management, compliance, insurance certificate management, emergency operations, and business certification such as Diversity or Prequalification?  

Automation, such as the PB System™ provided by PlanetBids, a proven SaaS solution, offers many benefits at a cost-effective price that is recouped in as little as one bid.  In most cases, automation costs less than you think and can be easily justified. For most purchasing professionals, a business case is a must to move forward. 

Items to consider in building your business case are:

• Define objectives aligned to your department and organizational goals/initiatives.
  • For example, streamlining processes, increased control & uniformity, audit trail, compliance, supplier diversity tracking, environmental initiatives, reduce overhead costs, collaboration with other agencies and vendors, etc.
• Define your current process pain points and state how the solution will resolve or reduce these issues.
  • Identify anticipated challenges other departments may have with approving the business case, such as reduced budgets, and have a resolution prepared that supports the expenditure.
    
  • When considering budgets look at overhead and staffing costs.  Determine the total cost of resources to post and manage a project from paper, mailing, faxing, room scheduling for bid openings, staffing to manage the process, including accepting paper submissions. 
    
    
• Identify internal challenges within your department and lay the foundation to get your team on board.  State the benefits of automation. 

• For example, increased vendor outreach resulting in more bid responses, automatic communication generated, reporting, compliance, reduction of non-responsive bidders, and vendor protests.
• Reduction of paper costs, fax machine costs, mailing costs, staffing to manage the process.

Create the Buzz: A key strategy is to gain support before the business case is presented.  This allows insight into questions others may have outside of your department and to answer those questions early. 

• Talk to internal influencers and advocates to get their support
• Involve main stakeholders early and share your vision

  Public Works/Purchasing – Legal - Diversity/Small Business – Finance - IT – Risk Management

• Identify the positive impact automation will have for other departments – fewer vendor protests saves the legal department time
• Invite stakeholders to the software demonstration
• Determine mandatory vs. wish list items
• Talk to other agencies to find out their lessons learned, including implementation time, ongoing support, and provider’s knowledge of government procurement processes
• Obtain the quote and inquire about cooperative agreements and piggy backable contracts

With some strategic planning, the daunting task of justifying an eProcurement solution is manageable.  The PlanetBids solution is a game-changer and takes the purchasing function from tactical to strategic.

Doreen Cherry
Account Executive
PlanetBids, Inc.

Want to know more?

PlanetBids, Inc is a WBE, SBE & US Corporation celebrating over 21 years of excellence. For a demonstration, go to Schedule a Demo or call us at 818.992.1771.