Frequently Asked Questions - Procurement

Procurement Software Questions

OpenGov believes that the best way to encourage supplier diversity is to make our platform as accessible as possible, with no added cost to vendors. OpenGov Procurement has no limitations on account licensing. 

We are excited to announce that this is currently on our roadmap and the feature is being developed in 2022.

Absolutely! OG Pro was purpose-built to encourage collaboration within the sourcing process. You may invite both internal and external evaluators, while using permissions to ensure each stakeholder has the proper level of access to evaluations and scoring.

Insurance certificates can easily be entered into our system, supported by automated alerts come time of expiration.

OpenGov Procurement has the industry’s most automated and collaborative paperless solicitation development tool. It allows you to work off existing templates through its scope-of-work library, or start from scratch by clicking through a series of solicitation questions and having all the necessary solicitation language: timelines, instructions, etc. automatically populated into the RFP/Bid.

"I wanted to give you (Procurement) a huge kudos for this amazing procurement portal. It is clean, nice, easy to navigate, and access to all vendor's info. Thank you to you and your team for creating this great tool."
Karla Victoria
Karla VictoriaStaff Assistant — City of Tucson, AZ
”We now enjoy the significant advantages of electronic bidding — for example reduction in errors, ease of calculations, security, uniformity, consistency, and more.”
Jerome Wakefield
Jerome WakefieldPurchasing Agent — City of Newark, NJ
“Before OpenGov our team hated the back and forth using Word documents, assembling RFPs and manually tabulating. I bet you OpenGov Procurement has cut our sourcing time in half.”
Carla Murillo
Carla MurilloProcurement Manager, City of Bloomington, IL
Previous
Next

More Questions About Procurement Software

PRO supports the full gamut of solicitations, from:Best value, line-item or lump sum.

OpenGov Procurement works with all types of governments, including municipalities, counties, special districts, school districts, etc. We are fortunate to work with Sacramento County, the City of Pittsburg, Tampa International Airport and more!

OpenGov Procurement’s contract management solution allows for a completely paperless, centralized hub for your contracts with intuitive search features. It creates transparency and encourages collaboration with permission settings, a bird’s-eye view of active and historical contracts, with automated insurance certificate expiration alerts.

Pro provides a centralized platform that leverages bid tabulations and empowers teams with side-by-side scoring management (lowest-responsive-responsible, best value, etc.) that allows for individual or consensus evaluation methods. Invite both internal or external stakeholders.

 

Government Procurement Questions

Government procurement is the process by which the government acquires the goods and services it needs by purchasing from commercial businesses. Since agencies of the government use taxpayer money, there are a number of regulations on how to use it properly and responsibly.

The public procurement process in ten steps:

  1. Recognition of need
  2. Purchase recquisition
  3. Review of request
  4. Budget approval
  5. Request for quote
  6. Negotiation and contract
  7. Receive goods/services
  8. Three-way matching
  9. Invoice approval payment
  10. Record keeping

Related: Check out the seven sins of procurement infographic.

Stage 1: Identify a need for products and/or services

Stage 2: Create and submit a purchase request

Stage 3: Evaluate and select suppliers/vendors

Stage 4: Negotiate the terms of a contract with the selected supplier

Stage 5: Finalize a purchase order

Stage 6: Order management

Federal government contracts are commonly divided into two main types, fixed-price and cost-reimbursement. Other contract types include incentive contracts, time-and-materials, labor-hour contracts, indefinite-delivery contracts, and letter contracts.
The primary objective of public procurement is to deliver goods and services necessary to accomplish government missions in a timely, economical and efficient manner.
 

Bidding:

Each sealed bid is opened in public at the purchasing office at the time designated in the invitation. All bids are read aloud and recorded. A contract is then awarded by the agency to the low bidder who is determined to be responsive to the government’s needs.

Tenders:

The term tender refers to an invitation to bid for a project. Tendering usually refers to the process whereby governments and financial institutions invite bids for large projects that must be submitted within a finite deadline. The word tender can also refer to the acceptance of a formal offer, such as a takeover bid.

Quotations:

A quotation is also often known as a quote. It is a document that a supplier will submit to a potential client that lists the proposed prices for the supplier’s goods or services. The quotation is usually created based on certain conditions stipulated by the client.

Regulations dealing with government contracting programs for small businesses are outlined in the Title 13 Part 125 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). The government’s purchasing process is governed by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). Some government agencies are authorized to have their own supplement to the FAR.

The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)is the primary regulation for use by all executive agencies in their acquisition of supplies and services with appropriated funds.