Broken Arrow, OK – /PRNewswire/ -- When the City of Broken Arrow, OK recognized the need to equip its police force with electronic ticket writers, there was no doubt in purchasing manager Pat Harrison's mind that the city would be working with Louisville-based BidBridge, an eProcurement services provider for the public and private sectors, to obtain the devices.
In the past, Broken Arrow had collaborated with BidBridge on several successful bids, including trash bags, an excavator and a rotary mower. In order to help the city attain market value for goods and services, BidBridge facilitates a secure, real-time electronic sealed bid platform that allows suppliers to place multiple bids, replacing the public sector's traditional process of a one price per supplier response.
The electronic ticket writers the city wanted to purchase would enable police officers to scan the back of an offender's driver's license, rather than manually writing down the offender's information. Procurement of the devices would promote efficiency and expedite the ticket-writing process.
On June 30, the tenth BidBridge-Broken Arrow bid event took place between four suppliers, lasting 37 minutes and logging 46 total bids, 16 time extensions and five first place turnovers. At the conclusion of the event, Broken Arrow saved 27 percent against budget, with a .39 percent gap between first and second place indicating they received market value.
"Our original pricing research for the project returned quotes as high as $240,000, so we amended our budget for the project to reflect that. With BidBridge, the City of Broken Arrow was able to secure a low bid of $174,000," said Harrison. "Now, we'll be able to allocate residual funds towards other projects that were put on the shelf due to compressed budgets, including more electronic equipment to keep our police force technologically efficient."
Peter Langlois, BidBridge Director of Operations, commented: "Broken Arrow's repeated success is a strong indicator that the BidBridge model is instrumental in saving taxpayer dollars, and we look forward to our continued relationship for future bids."