Discussion and possible action to approve a professional service contract between Webb County and IONWAVE Technologies for a web based e-Procurement software program effective July 1, 2017 through September 30, 2022 for a total amount not to exceed $77,500.00 subject to annual appropriations; item was presented and approved by the Webb County Purchasing Board on June 14, 2017, and authorizing the County Judge to sign all relevant documents; and any other other matters incident thereto. [Account #1001-1310-001-443000-110 Repairs & Maintenance to Software]
| Annual SaaS Subscription |
Fast Track (7/1/17 - 9/30/17) |
FYE 2018 |
FYE 2019 |
FYE 2020 |
FYE 2021 |
FYE 2022 |
Overall Total |
| IWT Sourcing |
$20,000.00 |
$20,000 |
$20,000 |
$20,000 |
$20,000 |
$20,000 |
|
| 10/1/17, 5 yr. Discounts |
($15,000) |
($6,500) |
($6,000) |
($5,500) |
($5,000) |
($4,500) |
|
| Annual Support & Maintenance |
Included |
Included |
Included |
Included |
Included |
Included |
|
| Annual Hosting |
Included |
Included |
Included |
Included |
Included |
Included |
|
| Implementation Services |
Waived |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Total: |
$5,000 |
$13,500 |
$14,000 |
$14,500 |
$15,000 |
$15,500 |
$77,500 |
Issue: Need to streamline the process of publication of formal solicitations through automation.
Solution: Approve recommended web based e-Procurement software commonly used by other Counties our size or larger. Software will help manage all formal solicitations such as RFP, RFQ, annual Bids. Software also handles vendor registration for auto notifications for increased participation, reverse auctions, auto tabulations for Court backup, and other features beneficial to Webb County.
Result: Increase productivity, better management of formal solicitations and reallocate man hours to other tasks that normally would be required for posting solicitations, addendums, tabulations, etc. |
Bidding (RFx) Module
The bidding module is utilized to create and issue the following sourcing opportunities online: Request for Quotation (Informal Quote), Invitation to Bid (Sealed Bid), and Request for Proposal (Sealed Bid). Registered suppliers receive e-mail notification of bid opportunities. Upon successful login, suppliers interact with the system to build and submit their bid response. Purchasing Agents receive bid responses and use the system to create bid tabulations and award notifications. As an alternative, suppliers can simply access, download, and print PDF versions of bid documents for the purpose of responding in a traditional format.
Sourcing Key Benefits
IWT’s sourcing solution provides savings in the process of creating, issuing, and awarding bids. The solution also provides many benefits of technology to the traditional paper based process, such as increased speed, automated auditing, and the elimination of redundant data entry. Key benefits include:
• Provides one centralized system for all bidding processes, eliminating data scattered across paper documents, word processors, spreadsheets, and address books. All bid specifications, supplier lists, responses, and bid tabulations are available from a standard web browser.
• Enables a more competitive bidding environment by allowing a buyer to easily expand the number of suppliers solicited. Suppliers benefit from increased awareness of business opportunities and the ability to offer more competitive pricing through process savings.
• Conduct reverse auctions, placing suppliers in a real time competitive environment where they can see the current low bid. This encourages suppliers to provide more competitive pricing by providing them the opportunity to know the pricing required to be competitive.
• Manual supplier management record keeping is replaced by online supplier registration and classification providing a centralized database of approved suppliers. Suppliers can be given responsibility for profile management and commodity classification, removing this burden from the buyer.
• Interactive online forms increase accuracy for the buyer when creating and issuing bid documents and for the supplier creating and submitting bid responses. Bid attributes provide higher quality responses by ensuring suppliers provide key bid information.
• Provides a centralized repository of all bidding activities. The ability to reuse bid documents and specifications eliminates duplication of work and provides templates for future bid activities.
• Minimize costs associated with creating, packaging, and distributing bid documents. System generated e-mail notifications eliminate manual notification efforts such as mailing labels or document faxing. Bid cycles can also be significantly shortened by eliminating the time delays from traditional bid distribution.
• Automatic e-mail notification by commodity code can eliminate manual supplier sourcing efforts and ensures equal opportunity for suppliers to receive bid requests.
• Provide public access to bid opportunities and award data, ensuring fairness and enhancing public relations.
• Dynamic bid tabulation eliminates the redundant data entry of manual tabulation efforts. The system can automatically notify suppliers of award decisions and make award information available to the public.
• Role based security and audit trail generation help to ensure compliance with centralized policies and procedures.
• System time stamps and encryption ensure a fair and secure business environment. |