When we think about the 30 copies of 1,500 page proposals that we have all submitted, it is clear that the procurement process has not traditionally been a green activity. We might consider purchasing recycled paper, electricity from sources that use renewable resources, or low-emission vehicles as green, but those are the results of procurement and not the process. However, the procurement process itself is becoming more green, reducing time, effort, and paperwork by shifting to greater reliance on eProcurement systems, also known as electronic procurement or automated procurement.

Whether you are charged with managing proposals for goods, services, or a combination of the two, it is critical for proposal managers to be able to interact with eProcurement systems when required. Capture managers also need to be aware of the impact these systems have on the proposal process and the nature of the final proposal product.

This paper provides some background on eProcurement, explores how to respond effectively to e-procurement solicitations from the time the solicitation is issued through upload of the response, and provides concrete suggestions for working with these systems that can be applied immediately.

eProcurement basics
eProcurement systems are not new – the concept dates back to the early 1970s. Today increasing numbers of companies and government entities worldwide are faced with smaller budgets, the need to improve efficiency, and a desire (if not a mandate) to contribute to their organization's efforts to become more eco-friendly. In the private sector, these systems often link to inventory management, accounts payable, and other enterprise resource planning (ERP) functions, making the organization as a whole function more efficiently. By using e-procurement systems, these organizations hope to reduce procurement costs, decrease their dependence on paper-based systems, and improve procurement process outcomes.

Although these systems were initially developed to facilitate the purchase of goods, especially those items ordered on a repetitive basis either for manufacturing or maintenance, repair, and operations, they are increasingly used to purchase services. While a 2007 report by Forrester Research, Services Procurement Grows Despite Obstacles, estimated that only eight percent of companies that have goods eProcurement solutions also purchase services through the system, the economic downturn has made it necessary for companies to look for cost savings wherever possible. This effort seems to have resulted in an increase in the use of e-procurement systems for acquisition of services. Services typically account for 30 percent of the total spend in manufacturing and up to 70-80 percent in financial services and other industries, according to a 2009 white paper from Ariba, one of the leading eProcurement system vendors.

Both the Forrester report and the Ariba white paper deal only with commercial procurement and not with government procurement. However, the GSA’s Advantage and e-Buy systems and the NASA Internet Acquisition Service (NAIS) are examples of eProcurement in the Federal arena. Section 30 of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) Act (41 U.S.C. 426) requires that a federal procurement organization “establish, maintain, and use, to the maximum extent that is practicable and cost- effective, procedures and processes that employ electronic commerce in the conduct and administration of its procurement system.” In 2007, FAR was modified to include the ability to use eProcurement (see FAR Subpart 4.5—Electronic Commerce in Contracting).

eProcurement systems provide a platform, typically a specialized database, for procurement from release of a solicitation through award. Although various systems use different graphical user interfaces (GUIs), all have similar functionality.

The procurement packages typically offered by major ERP vendors, such as Oracle, SAP, and Sage Group, include some level of eProcurement module. However, we have more often encountered one of the following the niche players or specialty vendors:

While the GUI for each vendor is different, the functionality is largely the same. Most software vendors provide the ability for their clients to customize the eProcurement system to fit the specific needs of each client’s purchasing organization. Do not assume that because you have used Client X’s version of Ariba, for previous proposals everything will be the same in Client Y’s version of Ariba. For example, one of the features of the Ariba tool that can be customized is the ability to download an Excel spreadsheet for your proposal responses, populate the spreadsheet as directed in the RFX (i.e. RFI, RFP, RFQ, or other solicitation type), and upload the spreadsheet to Ariba. Some of Ariba’s clients have chosen not to implement that function.

When there is no spreadsheet to download, you often must use the RFX as a basis to develop your own spreadsheet(s) for data input and upload the results one cell at a time – a much more difficult and time consuming process.
I encountered this problem when managing an IT outsourcing proposal to be submitted to a Fortune 500 company. The RFP required responses to more than 600 questions and 30 supporting attachments. Uploading our answers and verifying that we had done the upload correctly took most of two days.

Why companies use eProcurement
eProcurement is often championed by the procurement organizations within a company, because procurement management sees it as a means to reduce staffing, operate more efficiently, and increase transparency in the procurement process. By using a standardized electronic interface between the buyer and seller, eProcurement reduces the direct contact between the two groups, increasing the perception that the process in impartial.

Documentation is standardized, based upon the specific system requirements, reducing or eliminating the need for paperwork and simplifying the evaluation process. Pre-defined extracts from the electronic submission are routed to evaluators based upon their areas of expertise. Evaluators score their extracts and upload the information to the eProcurement system, allowing the contracting officer to arrive at an award more quickly with thorough documentation of the evaluation.

A 2007 report from the Aberdeen Group (E-Procurement: Trials and Triumphs) found the following results from using an eProcurement system:

• 35% improvement in spend under management
• 41% reduction in maverick spend
• 48% reduction in requisition-to-order cost
• 50% reduction in transaction time

A 2006 Oracle newsletter reported the following results from the University of Pittsburgh’s implementation of eProcurement:

• $77.4 million in cost savings
• 484 percent improvement in contract compliance
• Average cycle time reduction from 18 days to less than one

The ability to interface with ERP software increases savings by streamlining the entire process from requisition through solicitation and purchase to payment of the invoice.

eProcurement standardizes methods and documents for all commodities and services. Because each category of procurement is handled the same way, procurement training costs are reduced. In addition, procurement management can easily track the costs of both the procurement process and the items or services purchased and establish metrics for the procurement group.

• Services proposals require a different approach from commodities, especially complex services that impact the client’s organization.
• Not all purchases of goods are the same; buying pencils and toilet paper is not the same as buying complicated systems!

In addition, the rigid format and limited amount of data we can upload often prevents us from showcasing our true differentiators, as we do with traditional responses, even in the most severely page constrained proposals. It is difficult to develop a persuasive proposal or even a persuasive section of a proposal when you are limited to brief responses that may not be reviewed in sequence or even by the same person.

An Ariba representative explained their process to me.

• While developing the RFX, the purchasing organization identifies the items to be reviewed by each internal group, such as executives, contracts, and technical personnel.
• Once the proposal has been submitted, a review document is extracted from the Ariba system for each identified group.
• Items to be reviewed by the various groups may be intermixed in the RFX, so Section 2.1.2 of the proposal may be reviewed by a completely different group from 2.1.1 or 2.1.3. And 2.1.3 may be before 2.1.1 in the extract.

Proposal development costs may be somewhat higher initially for proposals submitted through an eProcurement system, because subject matter experts (SMEs) must learn how to respond appropriately and standard reusable content will not be as useful. Costs will likely level out as SMEs become more familiar with the requirements and you develop suitable reusable content.

How you can respond effectively
Get started early - gain access to the system as soon as you can. By gaining access to the system as soon as possible you will be able become familiar with the way in which the client has chosen to set up the system, review the documentation about the system (If it is not available online, try the system developer’s website.), and take advantage of any training offered by the client or eProcurement system developer. As part of this familiarization process, download the RFX.

If the client or the eProcurement system developer has a help desk, make that help desk your new best friends. Call the help desk before you need them to determine their hours and whether they have additional documentation on the system they can share with you. Ask for specific suggestions or insights they have into things to avoid or ways to make the process easier for you with fewer problems for them.

Determine whether the system has a notification function that lets you know when a change is made to the RFX or questions are answered. If there is such as system, use it to save time and effort. If there is no notification system, set a reminder in your e-mail system to check back regularly for changes and answers to questions.

Getting your team ready
I strongly recommend that you limit access to the eProcurement system to two or three people. In most cases, you must share a user name and password, so limiting the number of people who can access the system avoids potential version control problems or premature submission of the proposal.

I once had a capture manager inadvertently submit an incomplete proposal far in advance of the due date. When I called my friends at the help desk, they were able to change the status to allow us to continue adding material and submit at the appropriate time.

During proposal development, I suggest that you limit access to the Capture Manager (CM), Proposal Manager (PM), and Proposal Coordinator (PC), with the understanding that the CM will inform the PM and PC whenever he/she needs to access the system. The PM and PC also coordinate their efforts to ensure that only one person accesses the system at a time.

Because you will follow a somewhat different proposal workflow, be sure to work closely with others in your organization as you develop the schedule and plan reviews. The capture manager and subject matter experts will want to know why you are asking for such different input.

Responding to the RFX
Most systems have a download function you can use to obtain the RFX. Figure 1 shows a sample RFX; Figure 2 contains an example of a downloadable Excel spreadsheet that you can use to enter your response. If you are fortunate, you will have both of these documents.

Figure 1. RFP Sample

If there is no spreadsheet, carefully break down the RFX to correspond with the way it must be entered into the system. Be aware that you may not be able to upload the spreadsheet you create and must upload to the eProcurement tool cell by cell. Check with the help desk to determine the specific response type if the RFX does not provide sufficient detail.

Instruct writers/SMEs carefully on the types of input required. In Figure 1, note that some cells require no response. The type of response and length of text answers is typically defined in the instructions for the proposal. Be sure you understand the differences between such things as text and short text.

The following are some examples of text length requirements:

• Short – perhaps limited to 50 characters
• Long – limited to a defined maximum
• Attachment – you can upload an attachment; however, the RFX may require a specific format (.doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .pdf, or .zip) and the size of the attachment may be limited
• Money – takes only numeric entry
• Number, decimal number, whole number – takes only the defined format of numeric entry
• Date – takes only a predefined date format

Many systems export your input to an Excel spreadsheet for the client’s evaluation. In Excel, the total number of characters that a cell can contain is 32,767 characters; however, only 1,024 characters display in the cell and are printed. Be aware that eProcurement systems may limit input to 25,000 characters or even 1,024 characters. [HINT: To count characters in an Excel cell, enter =LEN(column row of the cell to be counted) into an empty cell. For example, to find the number of characters in cell K3, enter =LEN(K3)]

Figure 2. Sample Response Matrix

As mentioned previously, the way in which the eProcurement system is set up varies, so be certain that you understand what is required for the specific response. There are few things worse than to have assumed that you have 32,767 characters for a field and find out at the last moment that only 25,000 characters are allowed.

Some companies require a hard copy or at least a printable copy of all proposals for use during negotiations and for archival purposes. Be sure that you account for this requirement as you gather responses. Your legal or contracts department may have specific requirements. Decide early in the process exactly how you will proceed. For example, if you choose to use the Excel spreadsheet that is uploaded to the eProcurement system, consider how you will link each attached file to its specific requirement.

It is also critical that the person doing pricing input understands that the pricing template cannot be changed. I know a proposal manager who nearly missed the deadline for submission, because a pricer changed one cell in the pricing template without telling her. Fortunately, she had begun to upload the proposal well in advance of the deadline and had just enough time to go back to the pricer for a correction.

It is not your typical response
Due to system constraints, your usual boilerplate may not fit. We all have that wonderful 20 page version of our corporate background material that we use over and over again; however, you may not be able to use it. Although 32,767 characters sounds like a lot of material, it is at most 13 pages. And if you happen to be limited to 1,024 characters, you may have a lot of rewriting to do. Remember that graphics are typically allowed only in attached files and not in material uploaded into cells.

If your technical SMEs are like most, you will likely hear a lot of grumbling that they cannot possibly capture the essence of their amazing product or service in the limited space available. You may want to consider adding a technical writer or two who can compress the SMEs responses to the size requirement.

Remember that the order in which questions are asked in the online RFX is not necessarily the order in which the client’s evaluators will see your responses. Structure each response carefully, so that if it is read in isolation, you still make a compelling case for selecting your company. Be less concerned with overall readability as a single coherent document and more concerned with readability and flow in each individual answer.

Handling questions and answers
Many systems require that you upload your questions and receive your answers online. Because of the way eProcurement systems are structured, it may be necessary to upload your questions one at a time. Allow sufficient time for this task. You know how many questions your technical SMEs typically ask, so be prepared.

As I mentioned previously, if the system has a notification function, use it to notify you when the client answers questions or makes changes to the RFX. If there is no notification function, schedule regular times to check for answers and changes

In either case, determine how you are going to collect and disseminate answers. The organization that released the RFX may have a policy that they answer all of the questions at once, or they may add answers to the eProcurement system daily or several times a day. Determine whether answers to questions must be downloaded individually or if there is an export function.

In the best of all possible worlds, you will be able to upload questions in a single attachment, all questions will be answered at one time, and the answers can be downloaded in a single attachment. But that scenario has never happened for me. If you have the “perfect storm” in which none of those wonderful things occur, consider adapting the question template that you typically use to add information. Figure 3 shows a sample of the template I have used.

Figure 3. Sample Question and Answer Matrix

• Enter data cell by cell
• Upload all cell responses in a single Excel spreadsheet
• Upload complete proposal as a single attachment or multiple attachments
• Combination

If your proposal process permits and the eProcurement system allows you to do uploads and save without submitting the proposal, upload the responses piecemeal, as they are completed and approved. If your process requires that the entire proposal be approved in advance, be sure that you allow sufficient time for the upload.

If possible, have someone other than the person who did the entry to verify that it was done correctly. If, for example, your proposal coordinator does the upload, check it yourself. This validation step is very important, since it is easy to be off by one cell. Some configurations may allow you to print a copy of your input before you submit it. If that is the case, be sure to take advantage of that option.

Be aware that the response time for the eProcurement system may become longer as more companies begin to upload their data. In some cases and for commercial proposals, the system response time has become so slow that the eProcurement system administrator has extended the deadline for the proposal at the last minute, because not all of the uploads were complete.

And finally, be sure you hit the submit button!

For a large proposal effort that I managed, we completed uploading the proposal a full day in advance of the due date and received confirmation that our proposal had been successfully submitted. About half an hour after we received that confirmation, we received a panic-stricken call from the eProcurement system administrator. They could see that the proposal had been uploaded, but they couldn’t see the material. I worked with the eProcurement system’s Level 3 help desk for nearly four hours to help resolve their software problem and ensure that they could see our proposal. The help desk told me that had we waited to submit with the rest of the bidders, they would have had a much more difficult time debugging their system.

To ensure that your response is delivered on time and receives the attention it deserves, take the following actions:

• Allow plenty of time to enter the response
• Check the character count of your response in the Excel spreadsheet carefully
• Set up the response template correctly
• Understand the evaluation process and structure your responses accordingly

Joyce Loegel, owner of Proposal Prose LLC and independent contractor, has more than 25 years of experience in managing, writing, and editing proposals, statements of work, specifications, and user documentation. Her experience ranges from managing commercial proposals for Fortune 100 companies to being the only proposal manager/writer for a small company. Joyce has also managed state and federal proposals and has in-depth knowledge of Federal Acquisitions Regulations, Department of Energy Acquisitions Regulations, and military standards for documentation. A firm believer in using well-documented processes, Joyce has recently submitted several proposals using eProcurement systems, with varying degrees of frustration.

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