Wisconsin State Procurement Ranked Top 6 Nationally!
Wisconsin placed 6th in a national survey of state
procurement offices – up from 23rd place in 2016! The survey was conducted in
late 2018 by the Governing Institute and included responses from 28 states and
the District of Columbia.
While the survey focused heavily on the operations of each
state’s central purchasing office, the examples SBOP provided relied on data
and known practices from our entire enterprise and this accomplishment is
something we can all be proud of!
Some of those topics included the following:
Relationship Management: The survey highlighted our efforts to conduct strategic pre-bid vendor outreach, the materials we provide to suppliers who want to do business with us, and the various ways we collaborate with our customer agencies.
Training: The survey highlighted our monthly newsletter, expansive offering of in-person courses and the annual state procurement conference.
Sourcing Practices: Under the requirements of our statutes, we still find creative ways to innovate our processes but keep our customers compliant with the law. The survey highlighted examples of these innovations.
Post-Award/Contract Administration Practices: The survey gave a nod to our contract administration class, use of business intelligence tools to monitor contract spending, and the framework we’ve established for the pilot Vendor Management Program (VMP). The work of SBOP contract renewal analyses was also featured - comprehensive reviews of price changes, market conditions compared to our contract pricing, and making decisions based on data and not just relying on how we’ve “always done it.”
Use of Technology: We are one of few states that use an online system to run all official solicitations, including RFPs, as well as our adoption of STAR to run purchasing transactions. The implementation of an online system to process waivers and other special requests was also a highlight.
IT Procurement: The survey highlighted examples of innovations we’ve built in to recent, large IT RFPs; the framework we developed in the pilot VMP; the IT Best Practices Playbook and our full-day software licensing class as examples of thought leadership in the area of IT procurement.
View the full report here: 5
Trends That Are Reshaping How Governments Buy.
2019 Statewide Procurement Conference
Registration Filling Quickly!
Have you registered
for the 2019 Statewide Procurement Conference yet? The conference will be held
on Thursday, November 7 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 October 4; Late
Registration ($45) is available from October 5 through October 18, or until
space is filled. For full conference details, including conference agenda,
workshop descriptions and registration instructions, please refer to the 2019 Procurement
Conference Brochure (also available through the Procurement
Conference website). Contact Jessica Vieira at (608) 266-5452 with
questions about the conference.
Training Opportunities
2020 SBOP Trainings Now Available to Register. The
2020 SBOP training schedule has been posted on the SBOP
Training page and is 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., unless otherwise noted.
Classes include:
Introduction to the Wisconsin Purchasing Process (February/May/July/December)
Writing and Conducting RFBs (March/May/August)
Writing and Conducting RFPs (March/May/August)
Contract Administration (March/June/August)
Negotiating on Behalf of the State of Wisconsin (April/July/October)
Purchasing Print for the State of Wisconsin (April/October)
Software Licensing 101 (April/July/November)
Cost Benefit Analysis (May/November)
In addition, STAR Strategic Sourcing trainings will be
announced and publicized throughout the year, with the goal to hold them
approximately a month after the RFB/RFP classes. If you have any questions
about trainings offered by SBOP, please contact Jessica Vieira at (608)
266-5452.
Contract Spotlight
Cleaning
Chemicals. The Cleaning
Chemicals contract (505ENT-M16-CLEANCHEMS-00)
will enter the third and final renewal period beginning September 1, 2019
through August 31, 2020. Nassco was approved a price increase on Spartan
products citing manufacturer cost increases. Veritiv was approved a price
increase on all Ecolab products, also citing manufacturer cost increases.
Please contact Jim Oleson at (608) 266-1625 with any contract questions.
Facilities
Maintenance and Repair & Operations (MRO) and Industrial Supplies. The Facilities Maintenance and Repair &
Operations (MRO) and Industrial Supplies contract (505ENT-M17-FACILITMRO-00)
has added a third supplier, MSC, effective September 1, 2019 through June 30,
2023. MSC has a wide scope of building materials and machining supplies, among
other commodities, that will give end users more options for purchasing on this
contract. Please contact Jim Oleson at (608) 266-1625 with any
contract questions.
Court
Reporter Services and Transcription Services. The Court Reporter Services and
Transcription Services contract (505ENT-O19-COURTREPORT-00)
has been renewed effective September 1, 2019 through August 31, 2020. This
is the first of two one-year renewals. Please note, TransPerfect Legal
Solutions has chosen not to renew the contract and has been removed. Please
contact Nadine Malm at (608) 266-5462 with any
contract questions.
DocuSign & Document Retention
As more
individuals are using DocuSign to route key documents and improve their
business processes, we wanted to take the opportunity to remind everyone that
DocuSign is not a document repository system, as outlined in Procurement
Information Memorandum (PIM) 19-002.
The PIM
states that all documents will be retained according to the Retention
Disposition Authorizations (RDAs). The electronic signature system is not
considered an official system of record for documents that are signed within
it. Should a State agency determine these records will also be exclusively
maintained in an electronic format, agencies must additionally meet the
standards and requirements for the management of electronic records as outlined
in Wis. Stat. §137.20 and Wis. Admin. Code Chapter ADM 12.
After processing a
document through DocuSign, users must download a completed PDF document to save
to the appropriate location, as prescribed by the agency’s business practices.
Questions about DocuSign or PIM 19-002 may be directed to doawispro@wisconsin.gov.
Strategic Sourcing: Tips and Tricks
Template
Language Suggestion: At times, when responding to solicitations
through eSupplier, bidders will answer bid factors and upload files in response
to a solicitation, but will fail to click the “Submit” button and officially
submit their response, which then leads to the question of whether the
unofficial responses are allowed to be considered. To ensure procurement rules
are being consistently and transparently followed, SBOP has recently added
the following language to the RFB and RFP templates in the STAR Strategic
Sourcing system:
RFB
Template, Section 6.7, Submitting a Bid: Please note, Bidders must
click “Submit” in the Wisconsin eSupplier Portal to have their Bid received and
reviewed by DOA. Only clicking “Save” does not submit the Bid response;
therefore, it shall not be received nor reviewed by DOA.
RFP
Template, Section 2.4, Submitting the Proposal: Please
note, Proposers must click “Submit” in the Wisconsin eSupplier Portal to have
their Proposal received and reviewed by DOA. Only clicking “Save” does not
submit the Proposal response; therefore, it shall not be received nor reviewed
by DOA.
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
We
are pleased to announce MSC Industrial Supply, a new vendor on the Facilities Maintenance and Repair &
Operations (MRO) and Industrial Supplies contract (505ENT-M17-FACILITMRO-00)
has been enabled in WISBuy. Please contact Jim Oleson at (608)
266-1625 with any contract questions. WISBuy questions can be addressed by
emailing doawispro@wisconsin.gov.