Customer Case Study | Utility

About Imperial Irrigation District

Situated in the agriculturally rich and culturally diverse Imperial Valley, the Imperial Irrigation District delivers water to over 450,000 acres of highly productive farmland in southernmost Southern California. Established by a vote of the people in 1911, IID is the nation's largest irrigation district, delivering water and power to one of the fastest-growing regions in the West.

Challenge

Imperial Irrigation District (IID) was primarily producing RFPs manually - binding and mailing the documents was both time-consuming and costly. With an estimated 2,300 man hours annually spent processing RFP documents, they realized that they needed to look toward the future, leveraging technology in anticipation of entering the formal solicitation market. Their options were to either go with a technology solution or add more people, and adding people was not a cost-effective option.

Solution

In 2002 eBid Systems created an integrated system accessible via the Imperial Irrigation website that allows vendors and contractors to register with IID to receive bid solicitations, bid documents, and addenda to projects. This has helped them achieve a near-complete database of existing vendors and contractors, serving as a directory as well as a single source list for project-related communications. The eBid Systems solution also provides an auditable log of vendor activity and communications, saving precious hours and days when working under a strict project deadline.

Key System Metrics

• Procurement Value: $337 Million
• Number of Solicitations: 250
• Registered Vendors: 2,431

Key Benefits

• 98% of bids are distributed using eBid eXchange
• Savings exceeding $50,000 per year
• Eliminated 2 to 3 weeks in a typical procurement action
• Ability to automatically log and audit vendor transactions