Category: Office supplies
Last week a west coast hospital system purchased 220 LCD televisions. The specifications required the televisions to be hospital grade, ensuring they were appropriate to outfit hospital rooms and medical facilities. Specifications also included a request for installation cost. The online bid environment listed two line items for suppliers to bid on selected elements.
During the live reverse auction event, the five suppliers placed 61 total bids. In a paper bid process, the hospital would have only received five total bids, giving suppliers only one opportunity to submit pricing and compete for business. First place changed hands 15 times. At the conclusion of the reverse auction event, first and second place were separated by a mere 0.12% indicating true market value was achieved. Final pricing yielded a 6% savings versus budget.
An east coast university partnered with eBridge to establish a print contract for new materials for the 2011-2012 school year. The university engaged the use of eBridge’s reverse auction technology, but also the team of purchasing professionals to help create specifications and identify the right purchases for the process. This bid was comprised of two line items.
eBridge’s team worked with the purchasing team to establish neutral specifications and would allow multiple suppliers to bid on this project. One specific requirement was that suppliers be within a 300 mile radius of the university to ensure timely delivery.
During the live bidding event, the four suppliers placed 14 total bids. First place changed hands 10 times. First and second place were separated by a mere $500. The final low bid was 15% below the university’s budgeted amount.
Today, eBridge facilitated a bid for a state organization’s purchase of lottery promotional items. Items included pens, t-shirts, mugs, hats and bags.
Prior to the bid eBridge worked with the purchasing organization to create specifications, this allowed for multiple vendors to bid on the contract. eBridge’s team also advised the client to structure the bid with both line item pricing and lump-sum.
One of the strongest differentiators in a reverse auction bid versus a traditional bid is the pre-qualification of suppliers. In this case, each supplier submitted samples of the company’s items. Suppliers were also pre-qualified to ensure they could fulfill the order requirements and meet delivery deadlines.
eBridge sourced multiple vendors and ultimately, the purchasing organization approved four suppliers to participate in the event. First place changed hands eight times. First and second place suppliers were separated by 0.33%, indicating that true market value was achieved.
Final low bids came in 17% below the state’s anticipated budget.
Last week eBridge ran a second event for a large hotel chain to purchase furniture for their second phase of rooms. These rooms were larger, therefore different styles of furniture were outlined in the specifications. The same suppliers were approved to bid on the project. Each had set up a demo room in the hotel so the purchasing team could visualize the set up and evaluate the quality of the goods prior to the companies responding to the bid specifications.
The live event ran just over an hour, with the three suppliers placing 43 bids total. First place changed hands 26 times and first and second place bidders were separated by a mere 1.5%, indicating that true market value was achieved. At the conclusion of the reverse auction event, the final low bid was 16.95% below budget.
The hotel organization is slated to run several more bids this month including other building and renovation materials.
A large national hotel chain partnered with eBridge to purchase items for a room renovation project. The first purchase was for furniture (casegoods) in king, queen and double guest rooms.
First, eBridge’s worked with the hotel’s purchasing team to modify the specifications to complement the reverse auction process. Next, eBridge received a list of preferred suppliers from the hotel group. To increase competition the bid, eBridge’s sourcing team recruited additional qualified participants.
Once the suppliers were approved by the hotel group, eBridge conducted one-on-one tutorials for each supplier. In every event with eBridge, suppliers have the opportunity to ask questions throughout the process and receive a personal tutorial to make sure they are comfortable with the system and ready to compete.
During the live event, the three suppliers placed a total of 63 bids on the three line items. First place changed hands 12 times, and at the conclusion of the event, first and second place suppliers were separated by a mere 0.026%, indicating true market value was achieved. The final low bid was 17% below budget!
Columbia, SC, August 3, 2010–With reports of budget crises in nearly every state, the state government of South Carolina is taking action by incorporating cutting edge technology and industry best practices to increase efficiencies in its purchasing process. One major addition to its purchasing techniques is the reverse auction.
A reverse auction is a secure, real-time electronic sealed bid platform that allows suppliers to place multiple bids, rather than the one price per supplier response traditionally used in the paper bid process.
In July 2009, the State of South Carolina engaged eBridge Business Solutions, a proven eProcurement services provider, through a state contract. Since the inception of the contract, the State has utilized the reverse auction process for purchases budgeted at $5,344,000, resulting in over $1 million or 20.8% savings versus budget.
This savings was achieved over the course of 11 events between the Department of Transportation (DOT) and Information Technology Management Office (ITMO) on behalf of the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), Coastal Carolina University, Trident Tech, Midlands Tech, and Department of Natural Resources. A total of seven state organizations have utilized the reverse auction process.
“The State of South Carolina serves as a model for other states by incorporating best practices in purchasing through the reverse auction process”, said Jim Headlee, CEO of eBridge, “We commend State leadership for leveraging technology to be responsible stewards of tax payer dollars.”
The State is scheduled to run several more items this year as well as other city and local government organizations.
About eBridge
Founded in 2002, Louisville-based eBridge provides fully managed business solutions creating efficiencies and streamlining business operations. Leveraging years of experience in purchasing, sourcing and budget management, eBridge Business Solutions’ full suite of services includes purchasing, merchant card management, web based payroll and corporate purchasing cards. For more information, visit: www.ebridgeglobal.com.
Press Contact:
Whitney Headlee
Director of Sales and Marketing
whitney.headlee@ebridgeglobal.com
Yesterday eBridge ran a bid for a school district in Illinois and saved them 27% on their budgeted price. Our faithful operations team sourced five copy paper suppliers and four of them bid in the auction. The suppliers bid a total of 99 times and first place changed 27 times.
A neighboring school system put out a bid for copy paper through the traditional paper bid process where suppliers may only submit one bid in order to win the business.
The school system that purchased the copy paper through the paper bid process paid $29.50 per case and our client paid $27.43, which is a savings of 7%. See, the paper bid does have a purpose. Its purpose here was to serve as a reference point.
The real savings is through eBridge and our reverse auctions. Have a great weekend!
In another auction for the DMV the competition was steep for print forms. Three suppliers bid 108 times exchanging first place over 100 times. The auction was extended 102 times further reaching towards the goal of achieving the lowest price possible. When the auction was over the winning bidder came in 5.5% below the purchaser’s budget.
From supplies in your office closet to print forms, eBridge is the answer to your purchasing needs!
Have you bought any computers lately? Last Thursday a Michigan school system saved approximately 13.5% on their purchase. Combined there were a total of 52 personal computers to be purchased, both laptops and desktops.
eBridge brought 4 suppliers to the table. First place turned over nine times and the clock extended 22 times. This Michigan school system used our platform to save substantial funds that can now be used in other avenues.
You may not be in the market to purchase computers but our platform is far from limited. We’ve done anything from chickens to heavy equipment. So keep us bookmarked for any of your future purchases where savings is paramount.
A large county in Georgia engaged BidBridge for the purchase of 2010 Microsoft Licenses for its software.
15 suppliers competed in the 49 minute event, yielding 164 total bids, 13 first place turnovers and 35 time extensions.
The final pricing yielded a 17% savings versus budget and against state contract price.