California has awarded a Utah firm a $4.5 million deal to run a Web-based purchasing system for state departments and agencies until the state's own Web procurement system is up and running in 2013.
State officials hope the interim system will save both government employees and small businesses time and money, and will boost transparency surrounding government contracts, reducing public records requests.
"It's a like an Amazon.com approach to state contracting that will make things easier and faster, especially for small business," said Jim Butler, the Department of General Services procurement boss.
General Services will launch what it calls the "eProcurement System" on March 16, starting with its own business deals.
The California Highway Patrol, the Department of Transportation and Consumer Affairs will also deploy the system in early March.
BidSync (formerly RFP Depot) of American Fork, Utah, will host and operate the Web system for the state.
BidSync gets a $500,000 deployment and launch fee, plus monthly hosting fees equal to about $1 million a year afterward, Butler said.
The interim system will replace various online state contract services that exist on General Services procurement Web sites, including the California State Contracts Register and the Purchasing Information Network.
The state aims to have all its remaining departments and agencies using the Web contract portal by June 30.
Yolo, Contra Costa and Santa Clara Counties, the city of San Jose, and the University of Southern California all currently use BidSync's portal.
Butler said the state will eventually run its own procurement Web site again. Such a system will be included in the massive budgeting, accounting, and procurement management modernization systems project currently under development, known as Fi$CAL.
But that won't be ready until 2013-2014, Butler added, and BidSync's contract includes two one-year extension options if Fi$CAL runs behind schedule.
Contracting staff at all departments and agencies statewide must set up special accounts and undergo training before using the new procurement system.
Call The Bee's Andrew McIntosh, (916) 321-1215.
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