Date: Thurs, 8 May 2003 7:33 AM
From: Ann-Marie Breaux (YBP Library Services)
ABreaux_at_YBP.com
Subject: Statewide e-procurement system
Hi everyone,
I posted this over on autoacq-l, but didn't get many replies, so I'm
trying again with the larger acquisitions community.
We have a situation we've been facing at YBP for which I would like to
solicit feedback and opinions.
A couple states (most notably, so far, North Carolina and Virginia) have
contracted with various e-procurement services to use for purchasing
materials - be those materials widgets, office supplies, or library
materials.
The state commits its agencies (like - say - library acquisitions
departments) to procuring materials through the e-procurement system.
Some libraries are taking this commitment as a mandate to use the
e-procurement system instead of whatever other ordering system they may
already have in place with us; other libraries are just ignoring the new
e-procurement system and continuing their established ordering methods.
The order is placed via the e-procurement system, and the order is sent to
the vendor via e-mail or fax. From the vendor end, we see a number of
difficulties with this arrangement. Here are some of them, in no particular
order.
1. We may be required to buy special software (in one case, an Ariba
software package) to interface with the procurement system.
2. It's not clear that the electronic orders that are generated from the
e-procurement system will meet *any* of the existing standards for
electronic orders that we have (BISAC, X12, EDIFACT), so that we'll
have to write special programs to process the orders. I've not yet
investigated the e-order output thoroughly, but my primary concerns,
aside from the format of the data, are whether enough bibliographic and
purchasing data would be transmitted as part of the order for us to fill it
properly. Would we get the library's account number? How about its
fund code or location code (which often are used to assign cataloging
locations and/or spine label prefixes as part of cataloging and processing
services)? How about their library system's internal purchase order
number, which is critical for bibliographic and electronic invoice matching?
3. We have to pay a "marketing fee" to the e-procurement site. In one case,
that fee is 1.75% of the invoiced price of the materials. Given the tight
financials of our market, this has significant impact on our bottom line,
and means that we would need to consider reassessing a customer's
existing discount arrangement.
4. And from a process point of view, to my mind, all it does is add another
party in an e-purchasing arrangement which is already complex and
relatively mature - so what value does it bring to the procurement process?
For the most part, the affected libraries are *already* doing electronic
ordering with us, either via an electronic order sent from their local
integrated library system, or via our online system GOBI.
It would seem to me that this is a step backwards in the whole automated
acquisitions process. I would be interested in the thoughts of any libraries
that have been faced with a state e-procurement system, as well as any
vendors that have dealt with it. Good experiences? Bad experiences?
How big of an issue do you think this is?
Thanks in advance for your help,
A-M
Ann-Marie Breaux
Senior Manager, Academic Services Development
YBP Library Services, a Baker & Taylor Company
phone/fax: (678) 445-5720
vmail: (800) 258-3774 x3504
e-mail: abreaux_at_ybp.com
GA address: 131 Dockside Downs Drive, Woodstock, GA 30189
NH address: 999 Maple Street, Contoocook, NH 03229
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Received on Thu May 08 2003 - 07:41:13 EDT