CLEARBOX PROCURE CASE STUDY
Empowering Aurora's Transformation: Revolutionizing Procurement
In the pursuit of becoming a regional technology hub and delivering innovative municipal solutions to the public, the City of Aurora needed to dramatically expand procurement pace and scope. However, the demands of other workload on City staff, time-consuming legacy processes, and the lack of refreshed market data hampered these goals.
By partnering with Marketplace.city and implementing our Clearbox Procure Process, the City of Aurora has exponentially increased technology project completion with an account manager that acts as an extension of their team.
AT-A-GLANCE
- Location: Aurora, IL
- Government Type: City
- Population: 180,000
- Buyer: Information Technology, Office of the CIO, Finance Department
- Key parties: Legal Department, Office of the Mayor, Office of the City Manager, Human Resources, Public Works
SAMPLE END-TO-END MANAGED TECHNOLOGY PROJECTS
- Real-Time Crime Center Solution
- Indoor Mapping & Digital Twins
- Fire Station Alerting Systems
- Golf Course Management Software Solution
- Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS)
- Managed Telecommunication Services
- Police Body-Worn Cameras
THE CHALLENGE
Lack of Processes & Resources
The City of Aurora set a goal to be a regional technology hub that delivers innovative municipal services and solutions – a first-class customer experience for its constituents. With Purchasing and IT Departments already juggling a full workload, Aurora lack processes and resources to handle the pace of complex technology procurements and emerging SaaS products.. Existing processes were not always tailored to support the complexity or flexibility of technology or SaaS products and services.
THE SOLUTION
Saving Time, Resources & Money
Since 2019, the City of Aurora has become a power user of Marketplace.city’s Clearbox Procure process, enabling 30 completed projects, with over 12 currently in-flight. Each procurement begins with a Market Landscape of the relevant technology vertical. Marketplace.city then works with stakeholders to create optimal procurement approaches (including streamlined RFQs/RFPs) based on the City’s needs and market data, before managing solicitation posting and marketing to ensure many high-quality submissions. This data is presented back to Aurora stakeholders in side-by-side comparative presentations through Marketplace.city’s white-glove service, allowing the City staff to easily understand and manage their choices.
Benefits
Clearbox Procure’s data driven approach allows Aurora's team to focus on the outcomes and decision making, rather than process. Taking these responsibilities off of Aurora’s staff allows the City to save time – shortening the cycle from planning to decision, resources – enabling staff to address other work directly addressing community needs, and money – high volume of proposals provides clear market range and enables strong fiscal decision-making.
"Marketplace.city helped create the gold standard for how technology procurement should be done in a municipality not just in Illinois, but in the nation."
- Michael Pegues, Chief Information Officer, Aurora, IL
THE OUTCOME
Rapid Innovation at Scale
Clearbox Procure integrates with municipal procurement teams and acts as a force-multiplier – injecting data, diligence, and speed throughout hundreds of technology topic areas. Aurora has harnessed our free-to-government service to gain efficiency and better serve constituents. Even as we complete another wave of projects for the City, we’re discussing how we can support the next wave of innovation into 2024 and beyond.
Cost Savings
Aurora has had substantial cost savings of over $500,000 in the first year alone, and an impressive $750,000 over the contract lifecycle. Over the course of 4 years those savings are greater than $2,000,000. These financial gains provide the city with the resources to invest in critical projects and services that enrich the lives of its constituents.
Enhanced Efficiency and Reduced Staff Effort
Marketplace.city's invaluable support has significantly reduced resource efforts across multiple departments, streamlining market research and procurement activities. By saving over 100 hours per project(almost a full resource at scale), employees are now empowered to focus on higher value projects and areas of expertise, amplifying productivity and innovation within the organization.
Shortened Cycle Time
Aurora's purchasing process time has been dramatically shortened, cutting it down to an impressive 3-4 months (compared to the previous 9-18 months). This accelerated timeline ensures quicker vendor selections, allowing the city to adapt swiftly to evolving technology demands.
