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Article

eBid Systems Serves Up Solicitations

By Brian Robinson for Civic.com: November, 1999

eBid Systems has created an off-the-shelf solution for state and local agencies that want to bid online, basing the product on the expertise and experience gained in federal procurement shops.

BidServer automates some of the most common elements of the contracting process. The application provides an upload utility that automatically creates World Wide Web pages that contain features such as solicitations and contracts awards and builds links to appropriate specification documents.

The details of the vendors that register online are automatically captured in a database that can be used to notify those vendors of new solicitations according to areas of interest.

"That's a key extension [of the application] that goes beyond simple bulletin board systems," said Keith Jones, president of eBid Systems, Bainbridge Island, Wash. "The application drives potential bidders through the online registration so that the vendors themselves do all of the legwork in creating this database."

BidServer is the result of the experience that Jones gained during 15 years in the engineering consulting business, several of which he spent working on large federal contracts. It was there, Jones said, that he saw how the federal government put teeth into the reorganization if its procurement processes and how that know-how could be repackaged for use by state and local organizations.

Jones claims that BidServer provides as much as 80 percent of government agencies' procurement needs, with the rest taken up by the necessary customization needed to fit BidServer to agencies' particular processes. EBid Systems will work with agencies on that issue and provide continuing technical support, Jones said.

"From the time we sit down with the agency and develop its...specifications for this, it could be as little as two weeks to getting the bid solicitation site up and working," Jones said. "Knowing what they want out of this, and eliminating what they don't want, is really the biggest part of the whole process."

BidServer is a platform-independent solution, based on the Common Gateway Interface, which can run on both Unix and Microsoft Corp.'s Windows NT.

Developing a site will cost $10,000 to $15,000, depending on the level of customization needed, Jones said.

About eBid Systems - eBid Systems provides an integrated suite of contract sourcing and management solutions to industry and public agencies.

Contact eBid Systems at 206-855-8430 or visit our Web site at www.ebidsystems.com.