Earlier this year, York University partnered with Bonfire Interactive Limited (Bonfire) to use its web based electronic bid submission and evaluation tool. York Procurement Services has successfully piloted a number of acquisitions in Bonfire and is now ready to roll out the use of the solution to the University community.
The introduction of this web-based e-tendering technology will streamline the proposal submission and evaluation process as follows:
- Allow York’s proposal evaluators to evaluate and score proposals electronically (no need to flip through volumes of paper bid submissions).
- Allow the evaluators to access the bid documents from anywhere, making the evaluation process more convenient.
- Shorten consensus meetings by as much as three hours resulting in a shorter procurement cycle.
- Allow vendors to submit their bid responses electronically into Bonfire, saving them time and money.
- Expand bid opportunities to a wider geographic area through the elimination of the need to physically deliver bids to the University, resulting in increased competition.
- Give vendors the opportunity to instantly realize cost savings due to reduced bid preparation costs (reported average savings of $114 per submission).
- Reduce the risk of bids being disqualified as a result of being hand delivered after closing time to Procurement Services.
- E-bidding in Bonfire allows the bidder more time to work on their bids, allowing bidders to submit their bids and/or proposal sooner.
Last year alone, Procurement Services publicly issued more than 225 complex competitive bids, each valued more than $100K. These projects translated to the handling of more than 40,000 pages of printed materials. The elimination of the submission of paper bids will significantly contribute to the University achieving its sustainability and green initiatives. To view a full report on the efficiency gained by the move to Bonfire, see the PS Bulletin – Introducing Bonfire.
Bonfire is currently being used by a number of Canadian and Ontario Broader Public Sector entities, including hospitals, school boards, municipalities and universities.
To learn more about how Bonfire will enhance the bid evaluation process, watch the Evaluators’ Guide to Reviewing a Project in Bonfire Tutorial found on the Procurement Services website.