With Oregon Cities Poised for Financial Recovery

Oregon cities stand to gain $687 million from the American Recovery Plan enacted earlier this year. How can cities—large and small—create the most community benefit from those dollars?

One way is through modernizing how they procure goods and services.

On July 1, the state of Oregon will launch OregonBuys eProcurement system, replacing the longstanding Oregon Procurement Information Network (ORPIN). OregonBuys is built upon Periscope Holdings’ public sector procurement software, used by more than 1,000 government organizations and 500,000 suppliers around the country.

Oregon’s cities, counties, special districts, and non-profit organizations that are members of the Oregon Cooperative Procurement Program (ORCPP) can use OregonBuys. (For information on becoming an ORCPP member contact info.orcpp@oregon.gov) Current OregonBuys functionality includes the ability to post bid solicitations and shop across more than 400 statewide price agreements. Cities can realize immediate benefits with OregonBuys, including:

• Cost savings. Lower prices for goods and services can be found shopping in the OregonBuys Marketplace from statewide price agreements negotiated by state buyers to bring high-volume discounts. These agreements span technology, office supplies, public safety equipment, food services, supplies for helping organizations re-open safely post-pandemic, and much more.
• Convenience. Hundreds of hours in staff time can be saved by not creating RFPs, reviewing proposals, and negotiating individual agreements.
• Security. Easily accessible statewide price agreements are all vetted for compliance with Oregon law.
• More strategic sourcing. This modern system offers more robust business intelligence capabilities to help agencies better understand what they buy and identify areas for potential savings.
• Lower software acquisition and management costs.  OregonBuys can be used in place of individually purchased e-procurement software systems, saving software purchase and implementation costs.

The City of Bend is one of many Oregon jurisdictions that will continue using the state’s price agreements, easily available through OregonBuys, because of the savings of time and money.

“The buying power of the contracts have saved us money over what we were previously paying for the same products or services,” said Gwen Chapman, Bend’s Procurement and Public Contracts Director. “The cooperative contracts allow us to rely on commodity experts which makes the best use of our limited procurement staff.”

Future capabilities of OregonBuys that will also be made available to cities include receiving electronic bids, notifying vendors of their awards, and making purchases directly within the Marketplace.

As Oregon’s cities emerge from the pandemic and recover their financial footing, they have the opportunity to stretch their purchasing dollars, save valuable staff time, and minimize their purchasing risk by joining state agencies, counties, and special districts in modernizing their procurement functions with OregonBuys.

To learn more contact Tim Hay, OregonBuys Program Manager, at thay@periscopeholdings.com.