Specifications include, but are not limited to: Desired Business Outcomes: Efficiency: Provide a single place to perform, manage, track, and report on all procurement activities. Streamline, standardize and automate manual, paper-based procurement, contracting, and purchasing processes/practices to shorten/compress cycle times. Establish consistent standards and procurement practices across all Participating Entity organizations that are adaptable to unique Agency/Department needs. Provide self-service buying capabilities to empower users and make buying easier. Make approvals of procurement transactions faster and easier by leveraging online technologies. Provide more effective means to collaborate on procurements within and across Agencies, Departments and the Participating Entity as a whole. Free procurement staff to move from transactional to more strategic activities. Simplify Suppliers’ processes through self-service access to tools to do business with the Participating Entity. Provide real-time integration capabilities with the Finance and other Participating Entity systems. Provide access to mobile devices. Competition: Increase Supplier participation to expand the supplier base available to the Participating Entity. Increase Supplier access and participation in Participating Entity procurements. Provide open access to technology for all suppliers to ‘level the playing field’ and reduce the cost for suppliers to do business with the Participating Entity. Simplify Supplier participation in procurements by leveraging online technologies. Expand competitiveness to identify the best possible product/service at the best value-point. Cost Savings: Reduce prices through increased supplier participation and competition. Transition from paper-based documents to online, electronic documents. Aggregate demand across Participating Entity and other eligible entities to drive better prices. Increase use of contracts to expand benefit/use of competitive pricing Expand access/use of contracts across the Participating Entity and other eligible entities to better leverage competitive pricing. Reduce Supplier costs to transact with the Participating Entity by leveraging online technologies. Eliminate redundant and obsolete systems. Spend Analytics: Provide detailed visibility into what the Participating Entity buys. Increase spend under management across within Participating Entity and improve accuracy of spend data. Provide insight into buying practices across all the Participating Entity and other eligible entities. Provide comprehensive spend analytics and reporting to facilitate strategic sourcing and provide insight into Participating Entity spending across multiple dimensions. Compliance and Controls: Establish controls and visibility into buying practices to drive broader and appropriate use of Participating Entity contracts. Expand availability and use of Participating Entity-issued contracts by agencies, local governments and higher education. Facilitate achieving Supplier Diversity goals and objectives through broader participation of these types of Suppliers in all forms of purchasing. Improve accountability and auditability of all procurement actions. Increase security and control of procurement data and documents by transitioning from physical to electronic storage.
