Digital Purchasing
The county's bidding process finally reaches the 21st century!
With an annual budget of nearly $365 million, it's important that the County's bidding process be as open & responsive as possible. That's why Director of Procurement, John Flynn, spearheaded the effort to end out-dated paper mailings and move to an online purchasing group with modern search & notification features.
Empire State Purchasing Group currently hosts tens of thousands of bid and proposal documents for dozens of counties in New York State. The website is www.EmpireStateBidSystem.com. There is a free membership which allows for easy browsing of county documents and enhanced memberships for those wishing advanced search & notfication features.
John Flynn estimates that Broome County will save between $5,000 - $10,000 per year in postage & mailing costs alone. Furthermore, I like the new system because it democratizes the bid & proposal process by making it easy for anyone in the county to browse through documents and decide if they or someone they know can provide the service.
I was impressed to find that with this technology, we've been able to reach a larger number of local & statewide vendors than ever before AND it brings our local vendors in contact with bids & proposals in other counties, thus giving them the opportunity to generate more business as well.
Small changes like this lead us in a positive direction and I'm happy to have played a part in moving this along.
With an annual budget of nearly $365 million, it's important that the County's bidding process be as open & responsive as possible. That's why Director of Procurement, John Flynn, spearheaded the effort to end out-dated paper mailings and move to an online purchasing group with modern search & notification features.
Empire State Purchasing Group currently hosts tens of thousands of bid and proposal documents for dozens of counties in New York State. The website is www.EmpireStateBidSystem.com. There is a free membership which allows for easy browsing of county documents and enhanced memberships for those wishing advanced search & notfication features.
John Flynn estimates that Broome County will save between $5,000 - $10,000 per year in postage & mailing costs alone. Furthermore, I like the new system because it democratizes the bid & proposal process by making it easy for anyone in the county to browse through documents and decide if they or someone they know can provide the service.
I was impressed to find that with this technology, we've been able to reach a larger number of local & statewide vendors than ever before AND it brings our local vendors in contact with bids & proposals in other counties, thus giving them the opportunity to generate more business as well.
Small changes like this lead us in a positive direction and I'm happy to have played a part in moving this along.