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Monday, July 12, 2010

"The Proof is in the Pudding": Exhibit A on the Impact of Reverse Auctions in Governemnt



Previously here at the Reverse Auction Research Center (http://reverseauctionresearch.blogspot.com/), we have reported on the successful electricity buy accomplished through the aggregation of a number of townships and communities across New Jersey who participated in a reverse auction conducted by the New Jersey Sustainable Energy Joint Meeting (NJSEM) (see Middletown, New Jersey Saves Well-over $100,000 on Energy Purchases through Reverse Auction Process - http://reverseauctionresearch.blogspot.com/2010/07/middletown-new-jersey-saves-well-over.html).

Now comes a report from the Cherry Hill Sun, reporting on the impact on the local township. You can read the full story by clicking on the link below:

Program to save town on lighting bill | Cherry Hill Sun

Great observations here that all public officials should take note of, as the aggregation of demand between small purchasers, combined with the competitive bidding environment of the reverse auction, produced big savings - in excess of ten percent - for the participating communities. Cherry Hill Mayor Bernie Platt commented that: “One of our most substantial, ever-increasing and painfully unpredictable operating costs is purchasing energy to run municipal services. When we paired that problem with our sustainability and environmental goals, such as reducing our carbon-emissions footprint, it seemed logical to join the NJSEM – and Township Council members and I are quite pleased that the decision is already paying off in the form of taxpayer savings.” Dan Keashen, Chief of Staff for the New Jersey Sustainable Energy Joint Meeting, remarked that: "The proof is in the pudding. Through this public bid for street-lighting, we received a lower rate than we had through our utility provider – that’s the sort of out-of-the-box collaborating that will help us through what is, essentially, a shared fiscal crisis.”

"The proof is in the pudding" and "out-of-the-box" stuff - that's not stringing cliches together - that's REAL savings that can save REAL dollars for all local, state, and even national governments through the strategic use of reverse auctions in their procurement efforts. And, with budgets being what they are across the public sector, this is a move that should have been made yesterday!

Do you want to explore how your agency can make the move to save money through using reverse auctions? If so, contact us here at the Reverse Auction Research Center (http://reverseauctionresearch.blogspot.com/)
to learn more.

David

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A UK Sock Crisis Stemming from Reverse Auctions?: A £5 million quandary due to a lack of upfront preparation and education



Interesting tidbit coming from the Leicestershire Mercury about what, in essence, is a bid protest stemming from a UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) contract for socks ( a big one). The incumbent (who has had the contract for decades) is upset that it lost the business over a few pence - well, times a few pence for each of 2.5 million pairs to be supplied over the next four years! Read about it here:

A defence minister has agreed to meet David Tredinnick MP to discuss problems with a Government computer system that he claims led to a Leicestershire firm losing a £5 million contract – and cost workers their jobs.

The lesson to takeaway from this "sock crisis" - wherever you are located in the world, make sure your reverse auction provider can deliver on the due diligence and vendor training/support end of things. If the provider had done their work on the front-end here with the incumbent firm, then all we'd have is a case of "sour grapes" and not a potential legal issue!

We'll keep you posted here at the Reverse Auction Research Center (http://reverseauctionresearch.blogspot.com/) if anything develops out of this "sock crisis"! In the meantime, keep your feet dry for foot health!

David



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BP Oil Spill: The Red Adair of relief well drilling says 'no doubt about successful outcome'



Great story from the Telegraph of London - if only we could have as much confidence in BP as we should have in this gentleman, John Wright, whom the headline writer christens as "the Red Adair of relief well-drilling" (Wikipedia him, kiddos and you'll see why!) - read:

BP oil spill: the Red Adair of relief well drilling says 'no doubt about successful outcome' - Telegraph

Great line for all in any field of work:
"After 40 successes, I have come to believe it is a lot like golf; the more you practice, the luckier you get!" -----John Wright

Let's all hope he hits #41, too!

David

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Spend Matters: The Reverse Auction Conundrum - Despite Benefits, Why Does Adoption Lag?



Here at the Reverse Auction Research Center, we previously featured a commentary by British e-procurement expert Peter Smith (http://reverseauctionresearch.blogspot.com/2010/06/view-on-why-public-procurement-is.html).

Now, our friend Jason Busch at Spend Matters has also commented on Smith's column (http://www.spendmatters.com/index.cfm/2010/7/7/The-Reverse-Auction-Conundrum-Despite-Benefits-Why-Does-Adoption-Lag). Jason has an interesting take - namely asking if there is "reverse auction fatigue" (where "supply markets are 'reverse auctioned out'"?). He makes great points that we need multiple approaches, and that reverse auctions should be but one tool in the e-procurement arsenal - to be used where appropriate!

Thanks for the observations, Jason - and do yourself a favor, read and subscribe to his blog here http://www.spendmatters.com/.

David

Reverse Auction Research Center http://reverseauctionresearch.blogspot.com/



Spend Matters: The Reverse Auction Conundrum: Despite Benefits, Why Does Adoption Lag?

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Enter Reverse Auctions: Telework is vital to government operations, and you need to buy more portable IT for doing so



Interesting story from Government Executive magazine, as they held a forum with five top officials at federal agencies on the subject of remote work (and the security, retention, productivity, etc.) involved. Read it here:

Telework is vital to government operations, chiefs say (7/8/10) -- GovExec.com

A nugget of info here that all should pay attention to in regards to e-procurement and reverse auctions. Namely, as more telework is allowed and encouraged, there will need to be more IT equipment bought to facilitate this trend. So, more laptops, smart phones, data plans, etc., all of which are perfectly suited for reverse auctioning to save precious taxpayer dollars! That was the message from Hugh Hurwitz, the Department of Education's top procurement official. He commented that in the shift to telework at his prior position with the FDA (Food and Drug Administration):

"We actually did a reverse auction and got a tremendous price on laptops. It was cheaper to buy them that way than it had been to buy the individual desktops we'd been buying. In the end, it saves the agency a lot of money."

Game, set, match for reverse auctioning! A "win-win" for the agency, for the employees, and most of all, for the taxpayer!

Got a similar story to share - contact us here at the Reverse Auction Research Center (http://reverseauctionresearch.blogspot.com/) to tell your success story saving money and time through using reverse auctions for procurement.

David




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Eutilia: New European Site for B2B e-Commerce Launches a Reverse Auction Platform for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses



Another announcement of a new B2B e-commerce site. This one is EUTILIA N.V., based in The Netherlands. You can read about their business concept here:

Eutilia N.V. Launches a Trading Portal for European SMEs

Jean-Philippe Massin, CEO of  EUTILIA N.V., commented that: "The European SME market is a large fragmented market of 25 million companies not yet exposed to online tools and with our assistance can dramatically and competitively increase their revenues. We are aiming at being their preferred online partner to boost their business.” They certainly appear to have a unique approach in an underserved market. We'll follow their progress here at the Reverse Auction Research Center: http://reverseauctionresearch.blogspot.com/.

Good luck to Jean-Philippe and everyone at Eutilia - and sorry about the World Cup finals loss!

David


From the Reverse Auction Research Center: http://reverseauctionresearch.blogspot.com/


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Oltiby MyBuyBlog To Become The New Business Procurement Tool Using Reverse Online Auctions



Interesting news that Oltiby http://www.oltiby.com/, based in Jupiter, Florida, has launched an on-demand reverse auction service aimed at all sizes of business and at governmental procurement. It is called the MyBuyBlog http://www.oltiby.com/home-mybuyblog-auctions, and you can read about it here:

Oltiby MyBuyBlog To Become The New Business Procurement Tool Using Reverse Online Auctions

They have an interesting graphical presentation on how their marketplace will work at http://www.oltiby.com/home-new-to-oltiby

We'll follow their progress here at the The Reverse Auction Research Center http://reverseauctionresearch.blogspot.com/.

David

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Teens and Facebook: Is This a Blip or a Trend?

The Facebook Man. Facebook is celebrating its ...Image via Wikipedia

Hmmm, interesting new report from eMarketer (a great source of info - do sign-up for their newsletter!). Are teens leaving Facebook? Will it see the kind of outmigration that happened with MySpace? What will be the next big thing?

Click and read this article:

http://www.emarketer.com/Articles/Print.aspx?1007808

Interesting stuff - do you feel this way? Comment here on the blog....

David
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Everybody’s Business - Online, We Pay With Our Time Spent Searching

Comedian Louis C.K. performs for servicemember...Image via Wikipedia
Here's a great commentary from the New York Times on the way we live today - and yes, spend our time online - read:

Everybody’s Business - Online, We Pay With Our Time Spent Searching - NYTimes.com

Yeah, all those split seconds that Google takes to search the whole Internet to bring me just what I want when I want it in order of relevance - that's tedious, eh? It reminded me of a classic interview with comedian Louis CK, on how "Everything's amazing, but nobody's happy" - watch:


Louis C.K. talks on Conan O'brien about technology from Nathan Lunde-Berry on Vimeo.

So, whadya think - Post your comments on the blog site.

David
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