BidSync
Reinforcing Procurement Relationship of Vendor and Agency

BidSync is a software company that handles end-to-end procurement and bid notification solutions for government agencies. Its cloud-based architecture helps the public sector save taxpayer money by improving efficiency, transparency and oversight through the entire procurement process, from source to contract to purchase. Founded in 1999, the company is headquartered in American Fork, Utah. Fred Tillman, BidSync's Vice President of Research and Development, believes that procurement plays a higher role than just identifying and evaluating prospective buyers.

"Government agencies are evolving to include procurement portfolios that include spending analytics, supplier registration, e-solicitation, Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM), procure-to-pay, supply base management and transactional enablement," he says. "Bidsync's collection of solutions provides a compelling platform with strong functionalities that help level the playing field for small business vendors and allows them to interact easily with government agencies."

The procurement market that BidSync attracts is a collection of government agencies ranging from state government, counties, and cities to public works, school systems and universities. BidSync’s products strongly rely on three key aspects. First, BidSync's products are available for customers to purchase at 70 percent lower administrative costs. These products put together bids, contracts, tracking requisitions, purchase orders and invoices to help reduce cost and time. Second, the company's bid notification system broadly advertises the bids to make it easy for vendors to quickly respond and place offers on the bids. It also provides tools for government agencies to choose the best vendors and use their offerings effectively, meeting the customer's requirements. Third, BidSync focuses on transparency, a major factor in the government space.

It strictly follows the processes and plays by the book, thus eliminating any chance of underhanded deals in procuring business bids. This is achieved through keeping automated trails on the distribution of public information available on the company's website.

More than 1,000 government agencies across North America employ BidSync's e-procurement solutions to reduce their costs and improve their efficiencies in order to meet increasing procurement demands. For instance, a customer from Maricopa County, Phoenix, used the company’s Reverse Action tool rather than going for traditional methods to bid on a procurement purchase. Within the first three weeks of their first bid, they were able to save $970,000 on a baking flour purchase needed for their prison system.

BidSync also maintains a database of more than 700,000 vendors, which can help streamline the RFx process and enhance an agency's sourcing efficiency. It also helps agencies identify minority or geo-targeted vendors to respond to an RFx. When a bid goes out, through natural language processing, BidSync's software automatically identifies potential vendors that could be considered for that particular bid. The company also distributes general FAQs to all vendors to clear common queries about the bids they are serving. Further, it provides online chat services for vendors to carry out necessary communications required to provide services for their bid.

With multiple competitors leveling the playing field, BidSync aims to lead the market place. Looking ahead, BidSync will be working more on strategic sourcing for bidding process, spend management and business intelligence, to keep a better track of the contracts and purchases made and the value for money received.