Orlando, FL Builds Solicitations in Minutes with Automatic Templates and Intelligent Boilerplates

The Challenge

Although the City had an eprocurement platform before revolutionizing processes, it was only used for posting solicitations and addenda. This resulted in extensive manual work when developing solicitations, communicating with suppliers, evaluating bids, and all other phases of the bid cycle. Internally, communication hurdles, such as relying on phone calls or the need to be in a physical office to collect signatures from department heads, stalled bids from closing.

Aside from these inefficiencies, it took a lot of work to train new users. They had to learn many new platforms as well as manual solicitation writing. “A lot of obstacles were created because it was difficult to communicate with suppliers, but even more challenges were created because of internal inefficiencies,” said Fabio Henao, NIGP-CPP, CPPB, Lead Project Coordinator at the City.

The Solution

Determined to make a difference, Henao and his team invested in OpenGov Procurement, an all-encompassing system that centralized their workflow.

“Everything switched, now we are spending 80% of time in the system instead of 20%. We are capturing all of the information we need from the beginning… the whole cycle is streamlined and centralized.”

The unified system encouraged collaboration with other departments, shifting the relationship from a transactional one to a true partnership. The “artificial sense of finger-pointing” disappeared, as all stakeholders could see up-to-date information on bids within OpenGov.

Results

Faster Solicitation Development

It used to take the City at least four weeks to build a solicitation, from writing the content to having it reviewed and approved by numerous stakeholders. Now, with pre-built templates and automation, it only takes a matter of minutes.

“Now it takes us 5-7 minutes to write up a solicitation document. The intelligent boilerplates are extremely helpful. If we are using a FEMA grant, for example, the system will automatically pull up the necessary clauses associated with it that we have to include, so we don’t have to look them up ourselves,” said Henao.

Smooth Transition for New Hires and Suppliers

Training new hires became a breeze with accessible resources and a sandbox environment. The transition to the live system was seamless, ensuring a smooth learning curve for employees.

Henao and his team also worked on migrating their database of suppliers into the new system. Suppliers welcomed the change, appreciating the simplicity of registering once to access multiple agencies and opportunities.

“No news is good news. When we don’t hear back from them, everything is working as expected. And even if we did hear back from them, we can just send them to OpenGov support,” said Henao.

Better Quality Suppliers

Suppliers have embraced the convenience of registering once with OpenGov, granting them access to countless agencies and opportunities without the need to create a separate account for Orlando. With access to a wider pool of suppliers, Henao and his team have noticed a significant improvement in the value of bids they have received.

“The quality of the responses we get and how compliant they are have increased,” said Henao.

The City of Orlando, FL’s procurement department successfully transformed itself into a model of efficiency, a testament to Henao’s dedication and vision. The adoption of OpenGov has streamlined operations and positioned them as procurement heroes, revolutionizing how they work and serve their community.