As procurement officials aim to keep up with the increasing pace of work, technology can help modernize systems to prepare those in procurement for the adoption of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence.
The project to implement Workday’s solution kicked off in July 2024, led by Denver Technology Services and the city’s Department of General Services. The initiative officially launched in February, and the tool is first being used by select purchasing and contracts teams within General Services, the Denver Public Library, and the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure.
Since its go-live date in February, the system has received about 45 solicitation requests, and it now has about 146 active users.
Although the technology is initially serving a limited number of users, CIO Suma Nallapati said in a statement Monday that the long-term goal is to expand it citywide. The project’s primary aims were reducing manual effort and standardizing the system that supports city procurements.
Prior to the new technology’s implementation, the city’s solicitation requests were managed through separate systems. The unified platform that Denver is using now centralizes the process of requests, tracking and execution for various types of solicitations. These include requests for proposals, invitations for bids, and documented quotes.
“This enables efficient collaboration within the platform which in turn produces consistency amongst projects,” Denver Chief Procurement Officer Lance Jay said in a statement, underlining the cost savings and improvements in working with suppliers.
The new system’s benefits are expected to largely impact and improve the transparency of the procurement process and its reporting, per the announcement.
Now, when a solicitation request is submitted, those who have turned it in via the new system have greater visibility into its progress, since the platform provides real-time updates and indicates any required approvals.
The system also includes a chat feature to let stakeholders and buyers communicate within it. And, notably, it includes reporting functionality that allows for the creation of custom reports, and eliminates the need for manually created spreadsheets. This could potentially improve Denver’s data-informed decision-making.
