Next Level Supplier Engagement in Rosenberg, TX, Grows Vendor Responses 225%

Bogged Down by a Manual Process

For years, Rosenberg relied on paper process for procurement. Back then, Skiles said, the government would be lucky to get one or two vendor responses to small project RFPs, and if they weren’t competitive, the City would have to put out the call again. 

Evaluation of proposals could also take a very long time. “All the bids were handwritten, so most always, somebody had a mathematical error, or there was something we couldn’t read, so we’d have to stop everything, and try to get in contact with the vendor, which could sometimes take a day or two,” Skiles said. Just getting the tabulations together could take almost a week. For big construction projects, the process could take as long as a month and a half.

A Complaint-Free Process with More Efficient Timelines

When Rosenberg implemented OpenGov Procurement in August 2022—two months ahead of schedule—timelines changed dramatically. The software eliminated problems with human error, and Skiles began to see evaluation processes shrink to as short as a day or two for small projects, and a couple of weeks for big ones. The number of vendors ticked up as well, even for smaller projects.

The implementation process itself was also fairly painless.

 “It was the first time where we went through an eProcurement implementation and I didn’t get complaints.” 

Blake Skiles, Purchasing Manager, Rosenberg, TX

An Eye Toward the Future

According to Skiles, the City is getting a 225% average increase in vendor responses and more competitive pricing, particularly in landscaping. Automated email reminders and checklists have freed up a lot of his time, and the system has made it much easier to meet the state’s requirements for soliciting bids from Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUBs). 

Now, not only can the City clearly see how many proposals are coming from HUBs, it can print out reports to submit to the state, instead of doing both processes manually. 

For Skiles, increased efficiency has meant that he’s been able to focus on contract management, something he wasn’t able to prioritize before. He has also been able to set up a procurement card program, rather than having to rely on regular bank cards. Now, not only is Rosenberg saving time and money, and hitting Skiles’s modernization goals, it has also been awarded the Achievement in Excellence for Procurement awards for the last two years.