In the previous post (which was about iSqFt), I mentioned “Onvia-Demandstar”.
OnVia-Demandstar is a technology company providing “bid and rfp” hosting and announcement services to city and county government agencies. Specifically, to the “procurement” or “purchasing” departments of city and county government agencies. I signed up for a “free” subscription to access and research Hillsborough County (FL) public bid/rfp announcements.
For this blog post, I selected a current procurement (by Hillsborough County) for the “construction” of a bridge rehab project.
Below, you see the “main” announcement of this project; basically, the announcement to prospective bidders:
|
Bid Identifier |
Bid Status |
Broadcast Date |
Date Due |
Name |
Actions |
|
ITB-C-0068-0-2011/MK |
Active |
12/6/10 |
2/1/11 |
WEST COLUMBUS DRIVE SWING BRIDGE REHABILITATION |
Details, Planholders, Download/Order |
After one clicks on “download/order”, it brings up what you see immediately below:
Request Bid Package
Agency Name: Hillsborough County BOCC
Bid Name: West Columbus Drive Swing Bridge Rehab
Bid Status: Active
Download Electronic Documents “for free” (this is one option)
|
Document Title |
Size (KB) |
Est. Download Time at 56K |
Action |
|
Bid Document Specs, VOLUME 1 OF 4 |
1,291.80 |
5 Min. 31 Sec. |
|
|
BID DOCUMENT SPECS – VOLUME 2 OF 4 |
23,270.33 |
1 Hrs. 39 Min. 17 Sec. |
|
|
Bid Document Specs, VOLUME 3 OF 4 |
14,692.80 |
1 Hrs. 3 Min. 41 Sec. |
|
|
BID DOCUMENT SPECS – VOLUME 4 OF 4 |
8,268.14 |
35 Min. 17 Sec. |
|
|
Plans 1 of 2 |
23,174.14 |
1 Hrs. 39 Min. 53 Sec. |
|
|
Plans 2 of 2 |
29,447.36 |
2 Hrs. 6 Min. 39 Sec. |
|
|
Sign in sheet |
328.53 |
1 Min. 24 Sec. |
|
|
Addendum No. 1 |
1,253.06 |
5 Min. 21 Sec. |
|
|
Addendum No. 2 |
16.52 |
0 Min. 4 Sec. |
|
|
Totals |
101,743 KB |
7 Hrs. 14 Min. 7 Sec. |
|
|
[Or, option 2, order (printed set of documents) By Mail] |
|
|
Reproduction Cost |
$344.12 |
|
Handling Cost |
$0.00 |
|
+ Shipping Cost |
(to be selected) |
Okay, so now for the “big question”. If I want to order a set of hard-copy documents, who does the printing for that order? And, a second question, who benefits from the revenue ($344.12) generated by that print order?
You may find this interesting (I did); when I clicked on “planholders” for this construction project – and a few others – two companies repeatedly appeared as “planholders” – iSqFt and Onvia/Demandstar. Hmmm, I wonder why that is?
Reprographics 101 
Leave a comment