Easing into Digital Procurement

Oh, those lazy, crazy, hazy days of summer when it’s sometimes challenging to completely focus on work. For many procurement officials, the idea of going fully paperless is daunting anyway, particularly when there are multiple processes that require automation.

But who says digital has to be all or nothing? The City of Reno, nestled on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, offers a telling example of how eProcurement has been implemented in phases.

The city had implemented an eProcurement system in March 2019. Moving to automation was new for both city staff and suppliers, so the initial approach was to run dual systems – one automated and one manual paper system for issued bids. However, as staff quickly become comfortable with the new system, and suppliers voiced a preference for on-line submissions, the city quickly moved to only automation. 

The Public Works Department, seeing the ease of a system handling goods and services, decided to try the system for construction bid projects too. PlanetBids' module-based cloud system allows users to access the information, upload documents, and track submissions from any location – work or home - and removes the burden of mailing or delivering large paper proposals to downtown offices.

Marcie Wood, the Purchasing Program’s Management Assistant, acknowledges the on-line process has benefited the city in more ways than streamlining the process and reducing paper waste, although that in itself is significant. The city previously advertised opportunities in the local newspaper and website.  Wood says, “While local businesses were accustomed to in-person meetings and submissions, they adopted the new procedures and now prefer the on-line process. It has resulted in a larger vendor pool with greater competition and increased diversity subcontracting.”

For procurement personnel, Wood states that having all the documents and requirements in one place has been very helpful and saves a tremendous amount of time when looking for specific documents or files.  “The system provides a really easy step-by-step guide that helps me stay organized and ensure submissions are complete and made by deadlines,” she notes.

PlanetBids offers 8 interconnected modules that offer a fully paperless procurement experience:

1. Vendor Management
2. Bid Management
3. Prequalification Management
4. Contract Management
5. Evaluation Management
6. Insurance Certificate Management
7. Emergency Operations
8. Bid Spec Library

The City of Reno’s next goal is to bring on PlanetBids’ Evaluation Management module, which allows an agency or an organization to conduct the evaluation process entirely online.  Buying officers can assign evaluations, set evaluation criteria, attach related documents, build scoring measures without knowledge of pricing, communicate with evaluators, qualify and recommend the most responsive bidder. Having the system track the entire evaluation process, conduct calculations, and aggregate final rankings provides for greater efficiencies.

For more information about a paperless procurement process, contact PlanetBids to schedule a demo.