{"id":4370,"date":"2024-08-30T12:25:50","date_gmt":"2024-08-30T16:25:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/?p=4370"},"modified":"2025-08-01T17:58:20","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T21:58:20","slug":"joining-an-e-sourcing-platform-to-meet-compliance-standards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/success-story\/joining-an-e-sourcing-platform-to-meet-compliance-standards\/","title":{"rendered":"Joining an e-sourcing platform to meet compliance standards"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Electronic procurement solutions deliver many benefits to state and local government adopters, including local special districts trying to manage layers of federal compliancy.<\/p>

Colorado\u2019s Upper Thompson Sanitation District (UTSD) is a prime example of a special district that adopted an electronic procurement solution to become compliant with regulations, manage purchasing projects, and to streamline procurement processes.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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How a crisis became an opportunity<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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In 2013, a major flood devastated the region that UTSD serves. Federal disaster recovery funds were available for governments and special districts affected by the disaster, but they came with a catch: To be eligible for the money, organizations had to prove that they were applying strict compliance standards to any projects the funds were used for. These standards were mandated by the federal government.<\/p>

When Suzanne Jurgens joined UTSD as financial officer in 2014, she quickly realized that the District would have to radically revamp its procurement practices in order to be eligible for federal disaster assistance.<\/p>

\u201cBefore the flood in 2013, we did not have a formal purchasing policy,\u201d explained Jurgens. \u201cWe were not pursuing anything beyond meeting the statutory [state compliance] standards.\u201d The federal government required that UTSD upgrade their compliance practices to gain access to federal funds, something the special district achieved easily with Bidnet Direct by SOVRA and the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System. UTSD\u2019s integration with Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System now brings their processes into the modern digital age.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Joining other local agencies<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Bidnet Direct by SOVRA is an e-sourcing platform comprised of a network<\/a> of purchasing groups throughout the country, utilized by government buyers and vendors interested in an easier way to distribute, respond to and manage bids. One of the largest purchasing groups on Bidnet Direct by SOVRA is the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System with over 200 local governments publishing and managing formal and informal solicitations.<\/p>

Jurgens was aware of the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System through joint contracts with other agencies that were already members of the platform. She knew that the time was right to join the Purchasing Group with multiple upcoming solicitations needing outreach. After realizing first-hand how easy the platform was to publish solicitations, manage vendors and audit projects, she explains that \u201c[Bidnet Direct by SOVRA] allows you to follow your purchasing policies easily.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Ease of use<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Bidnet Direct\u2019s easy-to-use and quick processes are a benefit for Jurgens, who, as a financial officer, has responsibilities other than just managing UTSD\u2019s purchasing. \u201cAdministering these projects is only part of my job. But I like how easy Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing makes it.\u201d<\/p>

Bidnet Direct by SOVRA offers local government<\/a> organizations and special districts a core bid and vendor management solution on the platform at no cost. \u201cThe no-cost solution is just beautiful\u2026 The [platform] is very intuitive, I really like that I can copy and paste information [Bidnet Direct by SOVRA]. Using Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing is uncomplicated,\u201d said Jurgens. Purchasing professionals can meet or exceed purchasing policies through a set of online vendor management and bid distribution tools that you need to streamline processes, save time and reduce strain on resources.<\/p>

Part of the core platform is real time tracking and reporting. Bidnet Direct by SOVRA provides a complete audit trail and time-stamped tracking in order to deliver a detailed picture of bid activity at every stage of procurement. Jurgens says, \u201cI really appreciate the reporting [functionality]\u2026 it adds another layer [to] support compliance.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Buyer support<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Although the platform itself is very intuitive, Bidnet Direct\u2019s strong support team in place is important to Jurgens. \u201cThe support is phenomenal \u2026 I love that I can be sitting here at 6 o\u2019clock and be speaking with Shinelle, who is excellent. I like that the support is there early in the morning and the support is there late at night. At least beyond the 8 till 5. That\u2019s really nice.\u201d Bidnet\u2019s support team\u2019s 8AM-8PM EST availability can be helpful for users such as Jurgens, who are located throughout the country across time zones.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\u201cThe support is phenomenal \u2026 I love that I can be sitting here at 6 o\u2019clock and be speaking with Shinelle, who is excellent.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Suzanne Jurgens<\/strong>, financial officer, Upper Thompson Sanitation District (UTSD)<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The system\u2019s accessibility is also very important to Jurgens. \u201cBecause I\u2019m a weekend worker and a night worker, I really like that I can [access the system] twenty-four seven, check updates, look at reports, see how many people have downloaded our plans and specifications. It\u2019s been very simple to use,\u201d she says.<\/p>

With ever changing compliance standards, whether it be at the federal, state, or local level, Colorado\u2019s Upper Thompson Sanitation District\u2019s decision to utilize the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing Group was a step forward in keeping up to date with these changes. UTSD exemplifies how a special district can use an e-sourcing solution<\/a> to easily manage their purchasing projects and streamline their entire procurement process.<\/p>

Find out how Bidnet Direct by SOVRA can help your government organization today!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Electronic procurement solutions deliver many benefits to state and local government adopters, including local special districts trying to manage layers of federal compliancy. Colorado\u2019s Upper Thompson Sanitation District (UTSD) is a prime example of a special district that adopted an electronic procurement solution to become compliant with regulations, manage purchasing projects, and to streamline procurement processes. How a crisis became an opportunity In 2013, a major flood devastated the region that UTSD serves. Federal disaster recovery funds were available for governments and special districts affected by the disaster, but they came with a catch: To be eligible for the money,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4862,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"wds_primary_category":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-4370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-success-story"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4370"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12166,"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4370\/revisions\/12166"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4370"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=4370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}