PR Newswire
LOUISVILLE, Ky. July 21 /PRNewswire/ — For the first time ever this past May, the Town of Vail, CO traded in the one-time paper bid process it normally uses to acquire construction services. Instead, Vail decided to rely on a reverse auction e-procurement platform to obtain slurry seal road services for more competitive pricing and to save taxpayer dollars.
“Ultimately, Vail wanted to look at alternatives to the paper bid process,” said Chad Salli, P.E., Project Engineer for the Town of Vail. “With the emergence of more efficient technology and strategies that can help us get a fairer price for services, the decision was not a difficult one.”
To run the reverse auctions, Vail called upon Louisville-based BidBridge, an eProcurement services provider for the public and private sectors that has worked with more than 400 public agencies. BidBridge facilitates a secure, real-time electronic sealed bid platform that allows suppliers to place multiple bids on a project, replacing the public sector’s traditional process of a one price per supplier response.
On May 27, the electronic bid took place between three construction service suppliers and helped save the town 19 percent against budget. The auction process lasted 58 minutes, producing 14 first place turnovers and 35 total bids.
“Vail was able to achieve a 1.44 percent difference between first and second place bidders – a solid indicator that market value was achieved,” remarked BidBridge CEO Jim Headlee. “BidBridge’s visibility and reporting capabilities allowed Vail officials to monitor the entire process while empowering them with a simple means to record the auction for future reference.”
Chad Salli added, “BidBridge provides a service that is truly crucial to efficient spending for local governments. Especially in a time of such economic uncertainty, the public sector has to use every means available to make sure money is spent wisely.”
BidBridge provides adherence to crucial stimulus spending factors like promoting competition and transparency through audit trails. For more information on how BidBridge is helping local governments, please visit www.bidbridge.com.
About BidBridge
Founded in 2002, Louisville-based BidBridge provides e-procurement services to both the public and private sectors, including cities, towns, municipalities and the medical, educational and corporate sectors. Through its competitive sourcing and online procurement system, BidBridge assists its buyers in achieving true-market value for the goods and services needed for ongoing business operations. Significant cost reductions and procurement efficiencies have allowed BidBridge’s buyers to save millions of tax payer, corporate and investor dollars, ultimately producing a positive effect on compressed budgets.