eBridge News
Records 1.62 Percent Margin between First and Second Place Suppliers, Indicating Market Value Was Achieved; Saves $123,000 against Budget
HIGH POINT, N.C., Sept. 22 /PRNewswire/ — Increased focus on the environment from national and local perspectives prompted the City of High Point, NC to replace its smaller recycling bins with larger 95-gallon containers. The recycling receptacles would then be distributed to local private residences for weekly recycling collections.
While necessary, the 36,000 bins required to satisfy the city’s needs would be costly to procure. The city set aside $1.5 million for the project and sought the aid of an experienced procurement company, eventually choosing Louisville-based BidBridge, an e-procurement services provider for the public and private sectors.
BidBridge facilitates a secure, real-time electronic sealed bid platform that allows suppliers to place multiple bids, providing an alternative to the public sector’s traditional process of a one price per supplier response. By utilizing the BidBridge platform, the City of High Point was able to save more than $123,000 against budget.
By the end of the 52-minute bid (taking place June 23), five competing suppliers had logged 45 bids, resulting in 31 time extensions and a 1.62 percent margin between first and second place – a key indicator that the city purchased the recycling receptacles at market value.
“With the final award amount totaling $1,337,000, there is no doubt that the reverse auction had a hand in saving valuable taxpayer money for the City of High Point,” remarked Cindy Sisloff, director of marketing and business development for BidBridge. “With a national focus on government spending, BidBridge offers a way for cities like High Point to be more strategic in their purchasing.”
In this county’s first event with BidBridge, 11 suppliers placed a total of 216 bids over the course of the 1 hour 39 minute bidding event.
The competition between the 11 suppliers led to 146 time extensions and 121 first place turnovers.
With a 14% savings versus budget and a 0.08% between first and second place, the county can feel confident it received true market value for the HP ProCurve Switches.
Note: This article outlines tips for creating open specifications and providing a neutral format, essential for the success of a reverse auction.
In this article, Eileen Youens shares her tips for improving bid specifications.
Youens explained that using active-voice language in bid specifications is one of a number of strategies to achieving the ultimate goal of the bidding process: maximizing the number of responsive bids from responsible bidders.
“And to get that, the bidders need to understand what you want,” Youens explained. “Don’t make it hard for them.”
Additional Specification Tips Include:
– Use “active voice” in your bid solicitation documents
– Make documents clear, simple and accurate: Avoid legalese and fancy-sounding words
– Look for hidden brand-specific requirements
– Use a short, descriptive document title and section headings that are clear and easy to understand
– Proofread bid documents for readability, making sure it is written at an eighth-grade reading level
To read the full article, click here.
Sees a 45 Percent Budget Savings on Walk-Thru Metal Detectors; 27 Percent Savings Overall
DENVER, Sept. 15 /PRNewswire/ — While constructing a brand new courthouse for the merged city/county government, Denver officials were looking for innovative ways to help them procure expensive, high-tech security equipment. To satisfy the new courthouse’s security needs, Denver needed to purchase five pieces of security equipment in varying quantities. The equipment evaluated included whole body imagers, conveyor-type x-ray machines, walk-thru metal detectors and dual- and single-entry employee restricted access turnstile gates.
To assist them in their procurement process, the City of Denver engaged Louisville-based eBridge, a proven eProcurement services provider for the public and private sectors. eBridge facilitates a secure, real-time electronic sealed bid platform that allows suppliers to place multiple bids, which provides an alternative to the public sector’s traditional process of a one price per supplier response.
On July 7, Denver used eBridge’s reverse auction process to procure the high-tech security systems at a competitive price, achieving a 27 percent savings against the overall budget. The savings made it possible for Denver to afford the most cutting-edge, efficient technology for the courthouse.
Denver attained the highest savings on its walk-thru metal detectors, where five suppliers competed, logging 24 bids, six first-place turnovers and 50 time extensions during the reverse auction. A 1.79 percent difference between first and second place serves as proof that the City of Denver reached true market value, saving 45 percent against budget on the item.
eBridge CEO Jim Headlee remarked, “Denver has proven to be a leader in innovative procurement practices. It is exciting to work with a city such as Denver because of its commitment to spending tax payer dollars responsibly.”
About eBridge
Founded in 2005, Louisville-based eBridge provides e-procurement services to both the public and private sectors, including cities, towns, municipalities and the medical, educational and corporate sectors. Through its competitive sourcing and online procurement system, eBridge assists its buyers in achieving true-market value for the goods and services needed for ongoing business operations. Significant cost reductions and procurement efficiencies have allowed eBridge’s buyers to save millions of tax payer, corporate and investor dollars, ultimately producing a positive effect on compressed budgets.
For more information, please visit: www.ebridgeglobal.com.
DAPHNE, Ala. — The city of Daphne recently saved around $61,000 by modifying its traditional project bidding process to an electronic bidding platform, using BidBridge, which allows for reverse auctions and claims true-market values.
The city budgeted $235,000 for the purchase of new trash bins, according to the city’s senior accountant, Suzanne Henson; the awarded bid came in at $174,000.
The reverse auction process allows suppliers to place multiple competitive bids, a change from the traditional “one price per vendor” scenario.
“Using the reverse auction, we were able to get more participation from bidders,” Henson said.
“The cornerstone of our business is competition,” BidBridge operations manager Guy Ramsey said.
Using the reverse auction, sellers compete against each other in a virtual bidding landscape; the process is timed and all bids are sealed.
Ramsey said BidBridge’s process allows for transparency during the bidding process, an attractive feature for a city in the process of formulating next year’s budget.
Henson expects the city to continue using the reverse auction for future project bids.
She added that the city council has the authority to reject a bid if it feels the offer’s not in the city’s best interests.
Founded in 2005, the Louisville, Ky.-based company provides an online procurement system used to secure public and private bids.
In the county’s first event with BidBridge, six suppliers competed for the installation of an early warning system for the County.
Suppliers submitted pricing for 5 elements, including 15 2-way electronic digital sirens, 2-part control packages for two control point locations, 15 concrete pole packages, 15 steel pole packages and 15 wood pole packages. In addition to the hardware, the pole packages included delivery and installation.
The most competitive element of the early warning system proved to be 2-part control packages for the two control point locations. The six suppliers placed a total of 53 bids, resulting in 13 first place turn-overs and 37 time extensions. First and second place were separated by only 0.28%, indicating that true market value had been achieved.
Overall, the county enjoyed a 27% savings versus budget on the entire early warning system package.
A medium sized southern town partnered with BidBridge to purchase an emergency generator.
Eight suppliers competed to supply the emergency generator for the city. The bidding lasted just over an hour, with a total of 86 bids placed and 11 first place turnovers. The result was just 0.72% margin between first and second place bids, indicating that true market value had been achieved for the generator. Additionally, the city achieved a 31% savings versus budget for the item.
The state commerce department partnered with BidBridge to establish a print service contract. Five suppliers competed for the printing of SCENE Magazine for one year. Four of the five suppliers were sourced in state, with the remaining supplier based in a bordering state, keeping the supplier base near the distribution area.
The event lasted nearly an hour-and-a-half during which the five suppliers placed 131 bids. The event allowed for 45 first place turn-overs and 92 time extensions. At the conclusion of the event, first and second place were separated by only .63%, indicating that true market value had been achieved.
Based on the lowest, final bid, the state’s commerce department achieved a 43% savings versus budget and a 47% savings versus last years’ cost for the magazine printing cost.
- BidBridge Featured in Illinois Policy Institute Monthly Newsletter
BidBridge Featured in Illinois Policy Institute Monthly Newsletter
How online reverse auction saves tax payers millions
Jim Taylor and his family just made it through a bad storm. They’re all a bit shaken but safe. Their roof, however, wasn’t as fortunate- and now it needs to be repaired. How should Jim go about finding someone to fix his roof? Which construction company would do the best job at the best price?
After the storm, Jim wants the best roof protecting his family- and fast. So, he searches the phone book and calls various companies, asks about prices and references for quality of service, and chooses a repair service. This process, however, could be much simpler. If Jim could jump online and go to a reverse auction website where qualified roofing companies compete for his particular project, he could save a lot of money and time and still end up with his roof expertly repaired.
To read the full article, click here or follow the link below.
http://www.illinoispolicy.org/news/article.asp?ArticleSource=1377
A nationwide insurance company partnered with eBridge to purchase office furniture.
Two suppliers competed against one another to provide Steelcase furniture. The suppliers placed 50 lowering bids over the course of the 45 minute bid, generating 22 time extensions and 28 first place turnovers.
At the conclusion, the two suppliers were separated by a mere .16%, indicating that true market value was achieved for this purchase. Additionally, the winning bid came in 23.8% below the initial amount budgeted for the furniture. This budget number was established using catalog pricing given by Steelcase.
The company was unsure before this bid whether Steelcase suppliers would compete against one another, so they asked eBridge. By polling our supplier network, we were quickly able to discover that Steelcase distributors will in fact go head to head with one another. eBridge’s unique position as neutral party between buyer and supplier allows us to be such a resource.
This company typically uses negotiation with suppliers to ensure that dollars are spent effectively. The buyer, however, has found that the reverse auction format is the most effective way to maximize spend.