HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 8327 INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 8327
May 15, 2001
rP11 &_.RTCb$6-0 To the Mayor and Members of the City Council
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SUBJECT: BID ADVERTISING PROCEDURES
The purpose of this report is to inform the Mayor and City Council of recent changes in bid
advertising procedures used in the Finance Department, Purchasing Division. Past and
present practices will be explained, as well as a look at the future and how advertising will
affect the bid process.
Background
Texas Local Government Code, Section 252.041 is the basis for past and current practice,
requiring notice of competitive sealed bids to be "published at least once a week for two
consecutive weeks in a newspaper published in the municipality". The City extends this
practice to Invitations to Bid, Requests for Proposals and Requests for Qualifications.
1. Past Practice
Until mid-2000, Purchasing advertised in three ways. One was the mandatory newspaper
notice in the "Commercial Recorder". Second was the mailing of entire bid packages to
known vendors and postcards to listed vendors matching the commodity to be bid. Lastly,
a minimal description of the bid information was placed on the City's Internet site under
"Bid Notices and RFP's". These efforts resulted in sufficient competition to generate
satisfactory prices for goods and services.
2. Current Practice
Seeking to increase the number of bid responses and the resulting competition, the
Purchasing Division is using technology to expand its advertising for bids, specifically:
A. Newspaper advertising: (Currently, the "Commercial Recorder" and sometimes
the "Fort Worth Star Telegram").
B. Postcard notification- This is a feature of "BuySpeed", the automated
purchasing system, which takes a selected field of the Invitation to Bid or other
documents to be advertised and develops a postcard, merges the cards with
the vendor list and creates a mail-ready document at postcard rates (25a).
C. Internet: The City's Internet site still contains a brief description of the bid. A
recent development allows anyone to click the bid notice and download the
entire bid package. The vendor receives a ready-to-complete package, greatly
reducing mail delays and increasing the available time for vendors to prepare a
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, -rEXAS
INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 8327
May 15, 2001
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council
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SUBJECT: BID ADVERTISING PROCEDURES
bid response. This additional time reduces the number of "no bids" and no
responses, resulting in more bids received and more competitive pricing.
D. BuySpeed: The City's new automated purchasing system has two unique
notification features. When the buyer selects "send" as a delivery function, the
entire bid package is sent to all vendors with a matching commodity code for
that particular bid. First priority is email. A complete bid package is emailed to
vendors with this capability. If a vendor lacks email capability, second priority,
autofax, is invoked. In this case, a complete bid package is automatically
faxed to the vendor. The third feature is the printing of the postcard described
above for those vendors lacking email and fax capability.
E. DemandStar: The newest advertising innovation, in use for approximately six
months, is the Purchasing Division's use of DemandStar.Com. DemandStar is
a free service to the City. Subscribers pay a nominal fee for notifications by
geographic area and receive complete bid packages by email, fax or USPS.
DemandStar covers all of North America, and its use has resulted in more bids
received and more competitive bids. This translates directly into cost savings
for the City.
3. Future practice
The Purchasing Division will comply with statutes regarding advertising as always, but will
continue to explore and develop innovative, low cost or no cost advertising and delivery
methods. On the horizon are electronic auctions, electronic reverse auctions, on-line
Purchasing cooperatives (one of which Purchasing is already using) and rapid change in
other electronic advertising formats. Purchasing will remain abreast of these
developments and use them to assure increased competition and more competitive pricing.
�9, F"'a,
Gary Jackson
City Manager
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS