Category: Heavy equipment
eProcurement Services Provider Drives Price of Runway Snow Removal Units to Market Value
CHICAGO, IL – (August 6th, 2009) – eBridge, an eProcurement services provider for the public and private sectors, announced today that it worked with the City of Chicago to save nearly $1 million in a reverse auction. With the help of eBridge, the City of Chicago successfully implemented an eProcurement system in place of the traditional sealed bid auction.
eBridge facilitates a secure, real-time electronic sealed bid platform that allows vendors to place multiple bids on a project, replacing the public sector’s traditional process of a one price per vendor response. In Chicago’s recent reverse auction for high speed runway snow removal units, the first and second place vendor bids were separated by a mere one-half percent – a strong indicator that Chicago found true market value for the product, simultaneously saving more than one million taxpayer dollars.
The City of Chicago’s first reverse auction took place between four vendors who placed 42 bids, overturning the first place bid 17 times. The winning bid stood at $19,586,940 – nearly $1 million dollars less than a contested one-price formal bid that occurred several months before with the same four suppliers.
eBridge’s proprietary web-based event viewer gives the buyer a unique perspective on the bidding process. The buyer can monitor every updated bid in real-time for full transparency. Suppliers only see their own bid amounts and rankings and lower the bid if they wish in an effort to secure first place, providing a truly competitive environment that helps drive prices to market value.
“eBridge is a tool designed to increase transaction efficiency, transparency and cost controls by using strategies shown to deliver an average of 13 percent in savings,” said Jim Headlee, CEO of eBridge. “The program was developed to help both the buyers and suppliers – the former through transparency and cost control and the latter through the creation of a better opportunity to earn the business.”
Headlee also said that eBridge’s management is well-versed in making sure the program is utilized in compliance with state and municipal procurement laws.
To read the full article, click here.
The school district’s second event with BidBridge, five suppliers competed to provide a variety of vans and trucks for the upcoming school year.
On one of the trucks, a Ford F250 Utility Body, 64 bids were placed with 15 first place turnovers. The result was a mere 0.05% spread between first and second place. On a second item, a Fords F250 with a tool box, bed liner and tow package, 48 bids were places with 5 first place turnovers and 32 time extensions resulting in a 0.14% spread between first and second place.
Overall, the buyer yielded over 50% savings versus budget for the five truck and van varieties.