3 MIN READ
When public agencies evaluate digital procurement software, or eProcurement, the first question is obvious:
“What does it cost?”
And that’s fair. Public funds demand accountability. Budgets are tight. Every line item matters.
But there’s a better question to ask:
“What do we get for that cost, and how does it benefit us long-term?”
Because price alone doesn’t tell you what you’re actually getting. In today’s market, there are generally three categories of procurement platforms:
- Free or low-cost listing portals.
- Mid-market full procurement platforms.
- Enterprise-heavy platforms or ERP add-ons with premium pricing.
PlanetBids sits firmly in the middle category in terms of cost, but delivers functionality that rivals or exceeds higher-priced competitors.
Let’s break it down.
The Breakdown: What is the ROI of eProcurement Software?
Digital procurement, or eProcurement, software delivers ROI by reducing manual labor, increasing vendor competition, improving compliance, preventing costly errors, and centralizing procurement data – often offsetting its cost within the first year.
PlanetBids delivers full-cycle procurement management at mid-market pricing, making it a high-value investment that improves operational efficiency, transparency, and fiscal responsibility.
The Illusion of Free
Free sounds great, right? No cost means no getting budget approval, going through the procurement process, or jumping through hoops to get started.
And while many agencies just getting started digitalizing their procurement process, free or extremely low-cost vendor portals can be a logical first step. These free or vendor-funded platforms primarily offer bid advertisement, vendor notification, and basic document hosting.
Essentially, these tools function as digital bulletin boards. They’re not full procurement systems, and they typically lack the structured solicitation, vendor, and contract management tools that actually make your procurement workflow easier and faster.
That means agencies still manage:
- Solicitations and contracts in shared drives
- Evaluations in spreadsheets
- Insurance and certifications in separate trackers or platforms
- Audit preparation reactively
So while the software cost may be “free” or minimal, the operational cost is not.
What You Actually Get with PlanetBids
PlanetBids is not just a listing site. It’s a comprehensive, end-to-end digital procurement ecosystem that includes tools and functionality for:
- Solicitation management
- Vendor management
- Bid hosting, communication, and secure electronic submission
- Evaluation
- Contract management
- Insurance and business certification management
- Document management
- Bid specification and scope library
- Compliance tracking and risk management
That’s full-cycle procurement control. And for the average agency, that means big benefits.
PlanetBids allows agencies to centralize procurement operations, reduce manual processes like solicitation creation and tracking, manage compliance oversight in real time, improve vendor experiences and participation tracking, create stronger reporting visibility, and maintain audit-ready documentation.
It’s a middle-of-the-road cost that provides exceptional value, with scalable package pricing that is designed to allow your agency to grow into capabilities without runaway costs or unnecessary add-ons.
How PlanetBids Compares to Higher-Cost Platforms
More expensive doesn’t always mean better.
Enterprise competitors and ERPs often deliver similar functionality, but at a significantly higher total cost of ownership. Plus, these larger systems also require expensive configuration and customization, extended implementation and deployment timelines, and costly change orders and ongoing consulting dependency.
By comparison, PlanetBids was built by – and continues to be designed and supported by – former public procurement professionals who have been in your shoes and understand your processes and pain points. It was designed to take away the manual steps, protect you from bid protests and FOIA requests, and expand your vendor network for more efficient use of public funds.
Plus, it’s:
- Easier to implement
- Faster to deploy – sometimes in as little as a day
- Intuitive for buyers and vendors
- Fully featured without excessive add-ons
The result is enterprise-level procurement capability without enterprise-level pricing.
ROI Isn’t Just About Saving Money
Return on investment doesn’t just take into account the bottom line. When you consider the value brought to your agency, the ROI is about more than just the bottom line.
Here’s where the cost vs. value conversation becomes clear.
Labor Savings
Features like unlimited solicitation templates, scope and specification libraries, automated contract tracking and insurance management, and digital bid submission save an estimate of 2-3 hours per bid. That equates to roughly 120 hours annually for active agencies. Even modest time savings often offset a meaningful portion of the subscription investment by freeing up your team for more strategic procurement work.
Increased Competition
Better vendor management and submission tools lead to higher participation rates, fewer incomplete bids, and stronger competition. Even a 1% improvement in award pricing on a $5 million procurement volume equals $50,000 in annual savings. That far exceeds mid-market software investment.
Risk Protection
Full audit trails, compliance tracking, and structured evaluations reduce your risk of bid protests, insurance lapses, documentation gaps, and re-bid or rework frustrations. In fact, PlanetBids agencies have never had a successful bid protest against them. Avoiding just one major compliance issue can justify years of subscription costs, not to mention the time and stress saved knowing you’re covered.
Scalability Without Headcount Growth
Midsized and growing agencies often face a choice between adding staff or improving systems. And with tight budgets and increased oversight, adding more team members may not be an option. PlanetBids allows agencies to scale procurement volume without scaling administrative burden, helping you maintain or take on a greater workload without adding headcount. That’s operational leverage.
Middle-of-the-Road Pricing, Top-Tier Value
PlanetBids isn’t positioned as the cheapest solution. It is, however, the strongest value per dollar in the market.
More robust than free portals. More affordable than enterprise-heavy competitors. More comprehensive than standalone bid hosting tools.
For most agencies, that balance is exactly what delivers measurable ROI.
When evaluating procurement software for your public agency, don’t ask, “Is this the cheapest option?”
Ask, “Does this platform eliminate manual work, reduce risk, improve competition, and scale with us at a reasonable cost?”
PlanetBids delivers full-cycle procurement management at mid-market pricing, making it one of the highest-value investments an agency can make in operational efficiency, transparency, and fiscal responsibility.
Because in public procurement, value should matter just as much as – if not more than – price.