Polk County, TX
Population: ~53,000
Individuals Involved with Purchasing:
- Nacole Reeks: Purchasing and Procurement Coordinator
Sector
County Government
Polk County, Texas Shaves Hours off Procurement Process with OMNIA Partners’ New Ecommerce Platform, OPUS
At a Glance
Challenges
- Small county government with newly created procurement team
- Cumbersome RFP process to purchase goods and services
- Hours spent on research & purchasing
Benefits of OMNIA Partners OPUS
- Simple search function & quick responses from suppliers
- Eliminated RFP process for various goods
- Saved hours on research per week
Polk County, Texas, home to ~53,000 residents, created a dedicated purchasing and procurement department in 2023; an effort led by Nacole Reeks, the county’s Purchasing and Procurement Coordinator. Though a vast improvement from when purchasing tasks were distributed among numerous county departments, Polk County still faced significant inefficiencies in its procurement process.
The Problem: Time Consuming Procurement Process
Time and resource constraints resulted in Reeks and her team often buying from consumer ecommerce websites for convenience. If the department submitting a purchase request didn’t know exactly what they were looking for, or if what they needed couldn’t be purchased easily online, the process for identifying suppliers and waiting for responses was cumbersome and could take up to 3 days, leading to delays and lots of wasted time.
Reeks notes that, “I would search for suppliers that could provide what we were looking for. And then, of course, go through their entire website and probably have to create an account and do the contact form just to get some kind of recognition within 48-72 hours. It was really time consuming.”
The Solution: OMNIA Partners OPUS
OPUS, OMNIA Partners’ new ecommerce platform, simplified Polk County’s purchasing process and how they engaged with suppliers. OPUS QuickConnect allows Reeks to send requests to multiple suppliers simultaneously, receiving rapid responses and significantly reducing the time spent on procurement tasks.
When asked if the use of OPUS had resolved any of the challenges Reeks was facing, she did not hesitate to say yes. “It’s very easy to type something in the search bar, and then all of the vendors are brought to me.”
Additionally, they use OPUS to research and purchase all the items needed for cross-departmental requests, including specialty products like fireproof gun cabinets. Instead of manually searching for suppliers and waiting for responses, they can type a query into OPUS and instantly access a list of vendors and their relevant offerings. This saves them up to two hours a day, which could be allocated toward other projects.
Results and Benefits
The implementation of OPUS brought several key benefits to Polk County:
Time Savings: Reported saving up to 2 hours a day on the purchasing process, allowing the team to focus on more strategic tasks.
Cross-functional Alignment: By setting up multiple users on a single Polk County account, other departments can also search for and purchase their own office supplies, reducing the burden on the central procurement office.
Compliance: Every supplier contract and price in OPUS is the result of a competitively solicited and publicly awarded contract by a lead public agency, which meets the compliance standards set by Polk County.
Cost Savings: By leveraging the industry-leading pricing available through OMNIA Partners’ publicly awarded contracts, Polk County achieved significant cost savings.
Enhanced Vendor Communication: The support from OMNIA Partners, including setting up W9s and other vendor-related documentation, was prompt and efficient, further facilitating the procurement process.
Improved Efficiency: The OPUS QuickConnect function improved the process of obtaining quotes from suppliers and making purchases, reducing time-consuming manual searches.
Interested in Learning More about OPUS?
OPUS is the only free ecommerce platform that provides public sector and non-profit agencies access to hundreds of competitively solicited, publicly awarded cooperative contracts across all major categories.
Unlike traditional purchasing, OPUS allows you to research and buy from multiple suppliers with a single login and a single shopping cart, making it easier than ever to purchase the items you need.
With no complicated setup, you can immediately access OPUS to simplify your purchasing process.