Wichita County commissioners heard a demonstration of an electronic sourcing and contract-management platform on Nov. 14 from vendor account executive Lucas Orozco and Kat Knapp.

Orozco said the platform gives agencies access to a national vendor network and automates posting, notifications and audit trails for solicitations. “Any vendor can sign up for us to register and work with any of our customers for free across the country,” Orozco said. Presenters showed how bids are published, how suppliers get notified of addenda, and how bid openings are audit-trailed inside the system.

Commissioners and staff pressed on practical questions: how long documents are retained, whether the portal can enforce that bids only submit through the portal, how pre-bid or mandatory conferences are handled, whether the portal stores very large proposal documents and how long historical files are kept. Kat Knapp said the portal supports a retention schedule, unlimited viewing seats for solicitations and that suppliers can post questions through the portal; she added that pre-bid conferences are typically held outside the portal but that questions and addenda can be logged and published through the system.

County staff provided DIR/coop pricing scenarios relayed by the vendor: a contract-management-only option at an initial year cost of $24,600 plus a one-time implementation fee of $14,850 (year-one total $39,450); a combined bidding-and-contract-management option with a year-one total of $53,233.75 and higher subscription costs in years two and three. Staff noted the portal integrates with Tyler Munis to bring awarded bids into the county’s financial system.

Staff indicated interest in a longer demonstration and follow-up to evaluate whether the portal would reduce manual procurement steps and increase vendor responses. The commission did not take immediate action on procurement at the meeting.