e-Procurement for Public Sector and Schools

Municipal government, Authority, school district, and college professionals are charged with soliciting and procuring diverse goods and services in an open and highly regulated environment.

Because the public procurement process requires many interactions in a transparent environment, the burden of paper-based communications is enormous. Many of these professionals have turned to PennBid to significantly reduce time and cost of document-intensive communications and ensure compliance through a secure, centralized, transparent and auditable e-procurement Program.

Public Agency Benefits

Cut public advertisement cost 50-75% immediately

Completely eliminate time, cost, and waste of copying and distributing bid documents

Reduce labor investment of solicitations by 70%

Sealed bid confidentiality with auditable records

Receive more aggressive pricing through expanded vendor networks

Communicate changes and addenda in minutes

Full bid tabulation at bid opening

All but eliminate calls from bid outlets

PennBid Program Features

Maintaining full independence and control

Using unique and secure pass-codes, each agency maintains full independence and control of all solicitation elements from document layout and bidder qualifications to award decisions.

Integrated tools for e-procurement

The PennBid Program is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution developed specifically to provide an end-to-end integrated solution for e-procurement. The Program serves as a centralized and easy-to-use software system for managing Requests-for-Information (RFI), Requests-for-Proposal (RFP), and Requests-for-Quotation (RFQs) - from public advertisement through award and document retention.

PennBid provides unique pass-code protection for Agency professionals and bidders allowing for a 24/7 portal that can be accessed and managed from any internet connected device.

Public and By-Invitation RFPs and RFQs.

With advanced security features offered by PennBid, both public and private By-Invitation-Only solicitations can easily be published in less than 15 minutes.

Ease of Use

Allowing many local agencies, school districts, and colleges to take advantage of electronic procurement is the cornerstone of the PennBid Program. PennBid was designed as an intuitive and ease of use Program, assuring success whether used by a public works director or dedicated procurement professional.

Electronic Bid Document Distribution

Never copy or manually distribute a Bid Package again! Bid documents, such as specifications, plans, vendor qualifications, and addenda can be immediately posted to the website and organized into folders for easy reference. Up-to-date bid documents are instantly available to bidders.

Rapid and accurate communication with bidders

Receiving and answering bidders' questions or issuing changes and addenda takes only minutes without ever searching for contact information. Q&As can be instantly posted and always available while also emailed to vendors.

Secure online electronic bidding

Sealed bids can be received electronically in the form of documents, lump sum prices, and multi-item bid forms. Bids can be updated at any time prior to due date and time, meaning more accurate and aggressive pricing.

Receipt of vendor documents

Aside from providing pricing, vendors can easily include support documents such as bid bonds, non-collusion affidavits, vendor qualifications, and detailed proposals to their sealed bid. These documents are retained for the permanent record of the solicitation and instantly available.

Eliminating errors and automated bid tabulation

No more math errors! PennBid automatically calculates all line extensions and total costs for all bidders. The automated bid tabulation system ensures that vendor calculations are error free and provides the agency with immediate financial comparison of all bids. Bid results and award information can be immediately posted (with a mouse click) to PennBid to satisfy public disclosure requirements.

Contract Management after award

After award, PennBid can be used to manage key contract information such as award documents, insurance certificates, payment information, change orders, milestones, and expiration dates.

Simple vendor registration

PennBid simplifies vendor management with a self-registration process. Customized web forms are used to capture specific company, contact, and product or service data, along with vendor documents and diversity information. Advanced search features allowing creation of vendor lists that meets specific criteria.

Auditable message and solicitation history log

With PennBid's message tracking and receipt acknowledgement system, you have a complete audit trail of the delivery of all system messages. All document downloads, Q&As, and other transactions are date and time tracked creating an accurate and instantly accessible record.

It's your move - schedule an online demonstration today.