Category: Uniforms
The Department of Transportation for a southern State recently ran its bid for uniform services as a reverse auction. The bid was extremely competitive and the cost to the state was decreased by over $80,000 a year or 16%. Since the contract could potentially run for 5 years, that’s a savings of $400,000 to the taxpayers. eBridge was very involved with developing the specifications, participated in a pre-bid meeting and trained all of the suppliers individually on the process. There were five suppliers approved by the buyer to participate and the two lowest bidders were separated by less than half a percentage point. The reverse auction ran on eBridge’s proprietary online platform. The process not only saved the State money, but eBridge’s fees will be completely paid by the supplier that is awarded the contract.
The Department of Juvenile Justice for a Southern State recently ran their first reverse auction. The online event was run for clothing items and pricing came in 45% below budget. eBridge helped source additional suppliers to participate and this created true competition. Eight suppliers were approved by the purchasing director to participate. In the end, the incumbent supplier was the low bidder.
The purchasing director said, “I was skeptical about the effectiveness of reverse auctions, but we saw that they were effective for other state agencies and decided to give it a shot. Rebecca at eBridge did a fantastic job in helping us with the specifications, sourcing suppliers and training everyone on how to use the system. In the end, we saved 45% compared to the pricing we received the last time we ran a traditional sealed bid.”
Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, teamed with eBridge to acquire their culinary uniform and linen services. Six suppliers participated in the event, which lasted for 48 minutes. There were 83 bids placed with 15 first place turnovers and market value was achieved when the auction ended with a 1st and 2nd place spread of only 1.35%. Agua Caliente saved 13.52% on their budgeted value.
During the auction, Agua Caliente Executives were assured of their choice to partner with eBridge when the 3rd place supplier reduced its bid by 50%. That suppliers lowering bid put them within a few dollars of the 1st and 2nd place suppliers. This created “credibility”, as stated by an Agua Caliente Executive, of Reverse Auctions as a strategic procurement tool to provide True Market Value of the products and services they were purchasing. Executives also stated they were confident they were getting the best price for the product and services rendered from process.