Vendor Procurement (37)

Description:

This building block details the actual vendor procurement and the execution of the procurement strategy. Vendor procurement includes creating the procurement documents, advertising the procurement, carrying out the procurement, and signing a contract or contracts.

Details:

This task involves carrying out the vendor procurement strategy. The implementing RUC agency should perform this task, supported by a procurement officer and possibly consultants if desired. If the procurement is a traditional single-award request for proposal (RFP), it may be straightforward. A market-type procurement may be new for the state and may require more activity on the state’s part.

Primary Use:

Procure a RUC system for live operations.

Best Practices/Lessons Learned:

  • Allow sufficient time for the entire process and specifically for vendor RFP responses. For an informed vendor RFP response, three weeks is the minimum amount of time needed, but four weeks or more may be needed depending on the complexity of the specifications. Straightforward procurements (e.g., single-source RFPs) should have well-understood timelines. More complex approaches may need more time.
  • Vet the procurement approach, the terms and conditions, and the specification documents in a request for information before issuing the RFP (see Determine Use of Account Manager and Vendor Procurement Strategy building block).
  • Allow payments to vendors by direct payment (e.g., a flat annual operations fee plus a per-vehicle fee). These values may also be subject to scale. Alternatively, if commercial account managers are allowed to charge customers for services rendered, payments to vendors may only subsidize costs not covered by customer payments. In large mature systems, payment by the state to vendors may not be necessary.
  • Allow sufficient pages for vendor RFP responses. Constraining the vendors to very short responses may hamper communication.
  • Award procurements based upon best value—that is, on a balanced mixture of prices, experience, and services promised to be rendered—and not on any one factor alone.
  • Note that smaller programs cost more per vehicle than larger programs due to economies of scale.

State Government Context and Assumptions:

The implementing RUC agency, with the support of a procurement officer, performs this task.