2018 Statewide Procurement Conference
Registration Now Open
Have you registered for the
2018 Statewide Procurement Conference yet? The conference will be held on
Wednesday, October 31 at the Alliant Energy Center’s Exhibition Hall. This
year’s conference will provide an opportunity to network with colleagues, learn
procurement best practices and innovative solutions to common procurement
challenges and receive updates about public procurement in Wisconsin. The
discounted Early Registration rate of $30 is available through September 28;
Late Registration ($45) is available from September 29 through October 12, or
until space is filled. For full conference details, including conference
agenda, workshop descriptions and registration instructions, please refer to
the 2018 Procurement
Conference Brochure (also available through the Procurement
Conference website). Contact Jessica Vieira at (608) 266-5452 with questions
about the conference.
Happy Anniversary, eSupplier Portal and
Strategic Sourcing System
In September 2017,
the State of Wisconsin launched two programs: the eSupplier Portal for Bidders
and the STAR Strategic Sourcing module. Together, these programs allowed
State agencies to create, post and receive bidder responses to all types of
solicitations electronically. Since then, 3,350 bidders have registered on
eSupplier, 290 events have been built in the Strategic Sourcing module and
posted to eSupplier by 22 different agencies, and 140 solicitations have
been completed or awarded. This accomplishment has been no easy task and has
only been made possible by the dedication and cooperation of all of those involved,
including SBOP and agency procurement staff, STAR’s developers and technical
support staff, those who provided feedback and served as testers, those
involved in designing and delivering training and everyone who has approached
this change with an open mind. As we look toward the next twelve months, we
will continue to work to improve the use of the systems and develop additional
resources. If you have any questions about these programs, please contact doawispro@wisconsin.gov.
2019 SBOP Trainings Available Now
The 2019 sessions of the SBOP trainings have been posted on the SBOP Training
page and we are currently accepting registrations. Classes are held
at the Department of Administration building in downtown Madison and are
typically scheduled from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., except for the half-day Cost
Benefit Analysis trainings.
Classes include:
Introduction to the Wisconsin Purchasing Process (February/May/August/November)
Writing and Conducting RFBs (March/June/August)
Writing and Conducting RFPs (March/June/August)
Contract Administration (March/June/September)
Negotiating on Behalf of the State of Wisconsin (April/July/September)
Purchasing Print for the State of Wisconsin (April/July/October)
Software Licensing 101 (May/July/October)
Cost Benefit Analysis (May/November)
In addition, STAR
Strategic Sourcing classes will be announced and publicized throughout the
year. If you have any questions about trainings offered by SBOP, please contact
Jessica Vieira at (608) 266-5452.
Call for Standards Committee Members!
The State Bureau of Procurement is starting work on several
enterprise bids/RFPs to replace expiring contracts. There are openings to serve
on standards and development committees. If you or someone in your agency is
interested in serving on a committee, please reach out to the following staff:
Office Supplies and Toner: Cathy Neidner, (608) 266-3620
Temporary Professional Services or IT Vendor Managed Services
(VMS): Mojgan Hall, (608) 267-6922
Electronic Fingerprinting Services: Cort Hoel, (608) 266-2605
Marketing and
Advertising Services: Amy Schroeder,
(608) 266-0462
Contract Spotlight
Language Translation/Interpretation Services. The
Department of Children and Families contract for Language Translation/Interpretation Services
will expire on October 31 and be replaced by five mandatory Department of
Administration contracts: Written
Foreign Language Translation Services (505ENT-M18-WRITFORLANG-00,
initial contract term from 9/1/18 through 8/31/20 with five awarded vendors), Telephone Interpretation Services,
VRI (Video Remote
Interpretation) Services, In-Person
ASL (American Sign Language) Services and In-Person Foreign Language Services.
Transition to the new contracts will happen in a phased approach and contracts
will be posted to VendorNet as they become available. These contracts are
mandatory for State agencies and optional for UW campuses. Contact Cathy Neidner at (608) 266-3620 for
information regarding these contracts.
Statewide Office Furniture. The Statewide Office Furniture
contract (505ENT-M15-OFFURNITUR-00)
is in its final renewal period, ending August 14, 2019. Several vendors chose
not to renew for the final term. End users may go to the "Additional
Contract Numbers” section of the contract page on VendorNet for current
information. If your agency is interested in participating on a standards
committee for the next enterprise solicitation for Statewide Office Furniture,
please contact Cathy Neidner
at (608) 266-3620.
Cleaning Chemicals. The mandatory Cleaning Chemicals contract (505ENT-M16-CLEANGCHEMS-00)
is in its second renewal period, ending August 31, 2019. The
updated “Complete Price List” is posted on the contract page on VendorNet and
has been updated to reflect two approved price increases. Please contact Brooke Gullick at (608) 266-0817 with any
contract questions.
Operational Safety
and Health Online Training. The final expiration for the Occupational
Safety and Health Online Training contract (505ENT-O14-TRAININGRM-01)
with Vivid Learning Systems, Inc. is May 31, 2019. Due to low usage, the State
Bureau of Procurement will not pursue an enterprise-wide solicitation for a
future contract. If you have any questions, please contact Mojgan Hall at (608) 267-6922.
Strategic Sourcing: Tips and Tricks
Adjust Spacing After Tables: Have you noticed large
spaces following a table in your solicitation when viewing it as a PDF or Word
document? To eliminate this wasted space, it is necessary to force the spaces
to appear in the text editor. Select the table and right-click the mouse. By
default, “Alignment” will be set to “Left.” By changing this option to “Not
Set” and clicking “OK,” the spaces will appear in the text editor and will be
able to be deleted.
Uploading a New Main Document: Once you have chosen to
upload your main document (as opposed to creating one from scratch within the
module or using a template), you may upload a new version of your main document
without fear of losing any bid factors you have created. Simply click the
“Upload Main Document” link at the top of the page and select the desired
document. The name of the new document will now be listed next to the link and
all bid factors will remain as they were. Be sure to click “Save” before
leaving the page.
Access Archived Tips & Tricks: There is
a wealth of information available on the SBOP website,
including an archive of all past “Strategic
Sourcing: Tips and Tricks” articles and current and archived
editions of the SBOP newsletter.
Looking for
additional resources for Strategic Sourcing? STAR agencies can access a variety
of job aids, tools and resources on STARConnection
(STAR Connection > Resources > Finance and Procurement > Job Aids >
Search for “Strategic Sourcing”). If you would like to share a Strategic
Sourcing tip or trick you’ve learned, please email your ideas to Jessica Vieira.
WISBuy
WISBuy is off to a strong start in Fiscal Year 2019, exceeding
projected purchasing volume by 14% through the first two months of FY 2019.
August 2018 also marks the second-ever month of over $1 million purchased
through the WISBuy PCard Marketplace!
The steady increase in the number of users (12% more average
daily users in FY 2019 Q1 versus FY 2018 Q1) and corresponding transaction
increases continue to drive growth. The increase in users and user activity is
also generating more robust data for the WISBuy team and procurement managers
to use when negotiating for the best possible contract terms.
The staff in the
Knowledge Management, Improvement and Training Section of SBOP continue to work
with agencies to improve and increase transaction performance in other
commodity areas, as well as offering expanded training opportunities. If you
have specific WISBuy feedback or questions, please email doawispro@wisconsin.gov.