Case Study - East Side Union High School District

Overview

The East Side Union High School District (District), located in San Jose, Santa Clara County, California, administers 19 high schools with a combined enrollment of approximately 24,500 students. The schools include 11 traditional, 7 alternative high school programs, and the Adult Education Program serves 26,000 students.

Janice Unger has been with the district for over nine years, serving as the Director of Bond Purchasing & Contracts with a six-member team. Historically, the department’s role has been
responsible for all construction and bonding projects within the district. Unger states, “Our
department handles all design-build projects, as well as RFQ’s, RFPs and bids. Originally, this work was done manually, and bids had to be submitted in person by contractors, with a public bid opening. In 2015, PlanetBids, an eProcurement SaaS solution, was brought into the district, moving our team away from the spreadsheets, bid tracking whiteboard, and manual processes. Today, contractors submit all their documents online and no longer need to travel to the district offices to deliver those submissions.”

A few years later, the district expanded its use of the system by moving online to Insurance Certificate Management. Paired with My Insurance, the District and vendors can conduct all insurance-related tasks within the PB System™. The system automatically generates expiration notices, and vendors update the information directly by submitting their newest insurance certificates. According to District personnel, this automation has resulted in  considerable time savings and up-to-date insurance certificate tracking; thus, limiting liability for the district. Key benefits are realized by automating this part of contract management with the PB System™ Insurance Certificate module.

Challenges

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, school district offices, campuses closed to students and employees. Yet, for the Bond Purchasing and Contracts team, the transition was seamless. Since the procurement processes were already online, the team continued their work virtually from home. With bid submissions done online, contractors appreciated
that they could complete and submit a bid from the safety and convenience of their own homes. During the first half of 2020, the district awarded 77 contracts, with 19 pending Board ratifications and 15 still open in the system.

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