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E-Procurement
Vendor Enrollment and Solicitations Online
Miami-Dade County is one step closer
to transforming our procurement processes into
"e-procurement". E-Procurement functionally enables
interested parties to communicate with the Department of
Procurement Management 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year from
wherever they have access to the Internet. In a joint effort
between the departments of Procurement Management (DPM) and
e-Government (e-Gov), the County has embarked on the first phase
of automating the County's procurement procedures making key
steps in the process available online.
The Department of
Procurement Management, under the leadership of Director Ted
Lucas, recognized the need to make some major changes in the way
the County acquires the more than $900 million in goods and
services it purchases each year. After working with staff to
assess the department's overall needs, DPM determined that one
basic procurement function needed a fast, electronic makeover:
signing up vendors (Vendor Enrollment) and notifying them of
contract opportunities (Online Solicitations). Even though
automation is needed in all phases of procurement, a short-term
solution in this critical area was needed right away.
Striking the balance
between fairness, inclusion and efficiency is delicate, but
DPM's short-term needs were simple. It needed an IT solution
that would (1) enable vendors to enroll with the County, provide
an e-mail address and specify the goods and services they offer;
(2) create an e-mail list to send vendors of particular goods or
services and electronically notify vendors of DPM contract
opportunities; (3) enable these vendors to download DPM
solicitation packages free of charge, creating a database of
users who downloaded the package; and (4) send e-mail
notification of addendums only to vendors who downloaded the
initial solicitation package. The project had an ambitious but
realistic timetable of about five months with completion
targeted for July.
DPM staff looked at
several private IT firms which were capable of doing the work,
but the preferred firm's proposal was far too costly for the
relatively narrow scope of work and that firm showed little
flexibility in refining its cost even after the scope of work
was reduced. DPM then turned to e-Gov, who responded with a
proposal that not only met DPM's requirements, but did so at a
fraction of the private firm's best offer and within the
required timeframe. And, I am pleased to announce, that we
completed the project on time and within budget!
Previously, a firm
interested in becoming a County vendor would register at the
County's Vendor Information Center at the beginning of the
process and manually complete a ?-inch thick packet in order to
receive bid announcements via U.S. Mail. If a contractor wished
to bid on a County contract, he or she would make a trip to
County hall, purchase the bid package at a cost of somewhere
between $10 and $40, complete the package and deliver it to the
County at the prescribed deadline. Online automation will take
much of the cost, time and tedium out of this process.
Today, enrollment is
voluntary and allows a vendor to be informed about contract
opportunities and receive DPM solicitation announcements online.
Announcements will be sent via e-mail to all enrolled vendors.
Only when a vendor is recommended to receive a County contract
will they be required to register by filling out the Business
Entity Registration Application Form and accompanying affidavits
and W-9 form. County Ordinances require vendors to complete the
registration application as a condition of award. We encourage
vendors who wish to do business with the County to complete the
registration application and affidavits at their earliest
convenience, but vendors will not be required to do so until
they are in line for an actual contract award. Cutting out
certain steps is expected to not only reduce paperwork and speed
processing time, but also improve customer service.
This is online
business automation and business process reform at the same
time, as it should be. In seeking streamlined processes DPM has
not only shortened and condensed the vendor registration
application, but has also thoroughly revised and reduced its
boilerplate language from 40 pages to only seven.
Since going live on
July 8, the DPM site has:
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Sent more
than 1,575 announcements to registered vendors |
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Enrolled 187
new vendors; and |
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Posted 18
DPM solicitations online. |
Total migration to
e-procurement will be gradual and DPM will continue to offer
paper procurement for firms that are more comfortable with the
traditional process. Over the next two to three years, DPM will
implement the next phase - comprehensive electronic procurement
- which will bring the entire procurement process on-line,
countywide, not just at DPM, from vendor registration to
invitations to bid, to e-bidding complete with e-lockboxes and
finally e-awarding.
If you receive questions or for additional information on how to
do business with Miami-Dade County, please direct your
constituents to our procurement website at www.miamidade.gov
and
click on Business. Those wishing to speak to a department
representative can call the Vendor Information Center (VIC) at
305-375-5773 or visit them on the ground floor of the Stephen P.
Clark Center, 111 NW First Street, Miami, Florida 33128.
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About e-Government
