Polk County Shaves Hours off Procurement Process for Greater Efficiency
Polk County, Texas, home to approximately 53,000 residents, established a dedicated Purchasing and Procurement Department in 2023, spearheaded by Nacole Reeks, the county’s Purchasing and Procurement Coordinator. This initiative marked a significant advancement from the previous system, where purchasing responsibilities were dispersed across various county departments. However, despite this progress, Polk County continued to grapple with significant inefficiencies in its procurement process.
The Challenge: A Time-Consuming Procurement Process
Time and resource constraints resulted in Reeks and her team often buying from consumer ecommerce websites for convenience. If the department submitting a purchase request didn’t know exactly what they were looking for, or if what they needed couldn’t be purchased easily online, the process for identifying suppliers and waiting for responses was cumbersome and could take up to 3 days, leading to delays and lots of wasted time.
Reeks notes that, “I would search for suppliers that could provide what we were looking for. And then, of course, go through their entire website and probably have to create an account and do the contact form just to get some kind of recognition within 48-72 hours. It was really time consuming.”
These challenges underscored the need for a more efficient and streamlined procurement system, allowing the county to better serve its departments and ultimately its residents.
The Solution: OMNIA Partners OPUS
OPUS, OMNIA Partners’ new ecommerce platform, simplified Polk County’s purchasing process and how they engaged with suppliers. OPUS QuickConnect allows Reeks to send requests to multiple suppliers simultaneously, receiving rapid responses and significantly reducing the time spent on procurement tasks.
When asked if the use of OPUS had resolved any of the challenges Reeks was facing, she did not hesitate to say yes. “It’s very easy to type something in the search bar, and then all of the vendors are brought to me.”
Additionally, they use OPUS to research and purchase all the items needed for cross-departmental requests, including specialty products like fireproof gun cabinets. Instead of manually searching for suppliers and waiting for responses, they can type a query into OPUS and instantly access a list of vendors and their relevant offerings. This saves them up to two hours a day, which could be allocated toward other projects.
Results and Benefits
The implementation of OPUS brought several key benefits to Polk County:
- Time Savings: Reported saving up to 2 hours a day on the purchasing process, allowing the team to focus on more strategic tasks.
- Cross-functional Alignment: By setting up multiple users on a single Polk County account, other departments can also search for and purchase their own office supplies, reducing the burden on the central procurement office.
- Compliance: Every supplier contract and price in OPUS is the result of a competitively solicited and publicly awarded contract by a lead public agency, which meets the compliance standards set by Polk County.
- Cost Savings: By leveraging the industry-leading pricing available through OMNIA Partners’ publicly awarded contracts, Polk County achieved significant cost savings.
- Enhanced Vendor Communication: The support from OMNIA Partners, including setting up W9s and other vendor-related documentation, was prompt and efficient, further facilitating the procurement process.
- Improved Efficiency: The OPUS QuickConnect function improved the process of obtaining quotes from suppliers and making purchases, reducing time-consuming manual searches.
With the integration of OMNIA Partners’ OPUS, Polk County has transformed its procurement process into a model of efficiency and effectiveness. The streamlined approach not only alleviates the burdens faced by Nacole Reeks and her team but also empowers other departments to take charge of their purchasing needs, fostering a culture of collaboration and resourcefulness. As a result, the county is not only saving valuable time and money but also enhancing service delivery to its residents.
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