Agile Procurement in Action: How CapMetro Achieved 100% Automation

Overview

The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (CapMetro) is a public transportation provider operating bus services and a commuter rail system in Austin and several suburbs in Travis and Williamson, Texas. Maintaining 2,300 bus stops across 83 routes; 17 Park and Ride/transit centers, 9 commuter rail stations, electric trains, hundreds of paratransit vehicles and Metrobuses, as well as administrative offices, there is an ever-demanding workload to keep all operations in constant motion.

In 2018, a significant push towards an e-procurement process began for all Austin-area agencies. After a competitive process, CapMetro awarded an eProcurement contract to PlanetBids, a nationally recognized eProcurement company tailoring its services toward government procurement.

Prior to automation, all bids and RFP opportunities were published, followed by a paper-intensive process.

“The amount of paper used in the process was not supportive of our sustainability goals, something that is very important to our organization," said Muhammad Abdullah, Senior Director for CapMetro.

Early Automation Efforts Pay

Moving to an online system was only the first process. The team then reviewed existing templates for bids, IFB’s and bid bonds, updating all boilerplate language. CapMetro created online training videos, allowing employees to deploy training resources virtually. Reports generated from the eProcurement system allowed the team to analyze and identify trends to drive new spending initiatives.

Challenges

Fast forward to 2020, and CapMetro, like all agencies across the county, was forced to deal with the implications of COVID-19. Abdullah estimates that 70-80% of their implementation process was automated at the beginning of that year. As CapMetro’s team moved to shelter-in-place work locations, automating the final portion suddenly became a priority.

"When the workforce transferred to off-site environments, our process needed to quickly move to 100% electronic," Abdullah said. "We examined the remaining components to question how they could be automated. Additional needs were addressed with new features and modules, as well as updating existing policies to reflect the new online procedures."

"Procurement actually became busier while telecommuting," added Julia A. Wilkes, Executive Assistant for the Procurement Department.

The agency had limited laptops for employees at the time, but procurement quickly provided laptops and access to systems for all CapMetro employees to continue their roles remotely.

PlanetBids met CapMetro’s additional needs with new features and modules as well as assisting with updating policies to reflect new online procedures.

"Our Board unanimously approved the implemented changes," Abdullah said. "Our philosophy is that policies and procedures should be reviewed and updated to always reflect new requirements.”

In addition to operational duties, procurement’s role became critical to the Authority’s emergency response. PlanetBids' Bid Management module assisted the procurement team in issuing bids to purchase PPE products, update existing contracts, migrate employees to a fully-automated system, and support the IT Division with computers and software purchases – all done virtually.

Vendor Management allowed suppliers to register online for eligibility to contracting opportunities. When commodities and services were quickly needed to address the pandemic, CapMetro already had 1,550 companies registered within the system ready to bid. With new types of emergency purchases popping up all the time, and with companies continually registering, CapMetro will continue to grow their vendor pool.

Results Using the PB Systems™

100% Automation

CapMetro’s initial efforts to automate significantly helped during the challenging times of 2020. Keeping ahead of upcoming challenges while continually improving a process can often be a struggle for many procurement organizations.

Cap Metro’s team strives to frequently improve their procurement operations, often asking themselves, “How can we do better?”

“We are committed to steadfastly improving our process as an ongoing goal," Wilkes said. "The support of our management has enabled us to be more proactive in getting ahead of the proverbial curve.”

Chosen PB Systems™ Solutions

• Bid Management is the most complete web-based system on the market today. Procurement agents can quickly manage the process of issuing, monitoring, conducting evaluations, and awarding formal and informal bids. More importantly, the PB System™ can handle construction and public works projects, a feature unique to the eProcurement industry. Vendors can interactively search, view, and respond to bid opportunities securely over the Internet.
• Vendor Management is the core of the PB System™ modular suite. It offers a configurable registration process to ensure vendor registrations are complete and unique. Instantly gain access to vendor records, run advanced searches on multiple sets of vendor data, perform real-time verification of provided information (ie. certifications and licenses) against third party databases, generate comprehensive reports with visual charts, and broadcast messages to selected vendors.