Cost to Procure Calculator: How much does it cost to go out to bid vs piggyback?

How do you assess whether to run a new solicitation or buy through a cooperative contract? Purchase timelines, cooperative contract availability, and even politics can factor into your decision. While staff time has always been a key consideration, it has been difficult to track and translate into costs. Especially with procurement teams facing growing pressure to do more with less, quantifying these costs is more essential than ever. Now, with the Cost to Procure calculator, you can estimate solicitation and piggyback costs within a few clicks.

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[Click here to access the Cost to Procure Calculator]

withpavilion.com/about/calculator

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What is the Cost to Procure Calculator?

The Cost to Procure Calculator is a customizable calculator that estimates the costs of running a new solicitation versus piggybacking. Developed jointly between NCPP and Pavilion, it builds in methodology and baseline cost data from the RFP Tracking Project, which tracked solicitation costs from nearly 40 public entities.

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Just like Zillow and Redfin estimate the value of a home, this calculator provides an estimate of solicitation costs. This estimate includes salary costs across roles involved in the solicitation and does not include costs of staff benefits, advertising costs, etc.

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Why do we need to quantify solicitation costs?

To deliver impact to their communities and create a better department and supplier experience, it’s important to make sure teams are working on tasks that achieve these goals – and maximize taxpayer dollars. Quantifying solicitation costs can help buyers:

• Determine whether or not to create a new contract or leverage a cooperative agreement
• Estimate and track administrative costs over time
• Engage internal stakeholders and suppliers around how to reduce the costs of doing business with public entities

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“Previously, we didn’t know how much it costs to run a bid. Now, we have solid data. So, if it costs a certain dollar amount to go out to bid and the product is less than that amount, you can ask why you’re going out to bid.”

– Tammy Rimes, Executive Director, NCPP

“How much does it cost to do a solicitation? Especially in school systems where you have limited resources or cuts in staff and budgets, being able to answer that question really helps us when we present items to the Board for approval and talk about how we made that determination on how to get there.”

– Robert Bruce, Director of Procurement and Materials Management, Howard County Public School System

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How do I use the Cost to Procure Calculator?

Step 1. Enter information about what you’re looking to buy

Input information about what you’re looking to purchase, what type of purchase it is (e.g., commodities, commodities with installation, construction, services), anticipated purchase cost, and if approvals are needed. Based on this information, the calculator assesses if the project is likely simple or complex and estimates staff costs across roles based on findings from the RFP Tracking Project.

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Step 2. Customize data to your entity

Staff time and salaries are auto-populated based on the RFP Tracking Project. You can adjust:

• Staff time required: By default, the calculator uses staff time calculated from the RFP Tracking Project, which accounts for time from procurement, legal, management, finance, and end users. For complex projects, the calculator increases staff time.
• Discounts and markups: Add pricing discounts / markups you expect to receive if running a solicitation or piggybacking.
• Staff salary rates: By default, the calculator uses NCPP national salary estimates based on industry averages. To customize salaries to your region / entity, enter salary data for one of the roles at your entity. The calculator will adjust salary estimates across team roles accordingly.

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Step 3. Save your results
Saving your results will allow you to download the calculator as a PDF. If you would like to request your data, or track data across your entity over time, email partnerships@withpavilion.com.

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The Cost to Procure calculator is publicly available for free. You can find it here: withpavilion.com/about/calculator

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[Access the Cost to Procure Calculator]

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What if I have questions about the calculator or the RFP Tracking Project?

For questions about the Cost to Procure Calculator, email partnerships@withpavilion.com.

For questions about the RFP Tracking Project, email Tammy Rimes, Executive Director, NCPP: tammy.rimes@ncppassociation.org 

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