Popularity slow to build for online bid calendar

Wayne Towe thinks setting up an online bid calendar is a winner of an idea, now if only area architects would use it.

The online bid calendar, a joint project of the Springfield Contractors Association and the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects, debuted about three months ago on the Springfield Contractor's Association Web site. But it hasn't seen the kind of use Towe, president of SCA and MECO Systems, would like.

The lack of use, however, may be changing.

"Not as many architects are using it yet as we had hoped, but they are starting to use it," Towe said. "In the last 30 days I would say use has at least doubled."

He attributed the low use rate to a lack of awareness among Springfield area architects.

"Each (architect) we talked to has said, Well, I didn't know you had that,' " Towe said.

The online bid calendar helps architects and contractors coordinate dates for bids and avoid conflicts. SCA does not charge to use the online bid calendar, and users do not have to be members of SCA or the local AIA.

However, using the online calendar does require Web-site registration and the use of passwords, so project information cannot be improperly altered. The Web site is www.springfieldcontractors.org/bid_ calendar/default.asp.

The service doesn't allow contractors to place bids online.

"It's not a bid service," Towe said. "Its only purpose is for architects and owners to pick dates that don't conflict."

The online calendar helps architects and contractors keep from scheduling major bids on the same day. Towe said he has often seen three or four major projects bid at once, forcing contractors and subcontractors to forego bidding on certain projects in favor of others.

Towe said this means property owners often won't get as good a bid as they could have.

While the service is primarily intended for major commercial projects, most of which Towe said average about $100,000 or more, he added that smaller projects would also be welcomed.

"It's for everything commercial," Towe said, "but if somebody wants to put a $20,000 project on here, that's fine too."

And while the number of architects using the service might be small, Sheryl Letterman, executive director with the SCA, believes those who do use it see the benefits.

"It's working well for the people who are using it," Letterman said.

Ken Stufflebeam, senior vice-president with Gaskin Hill Norcross Architects, said his firm has used the online bid calendar with success. Stufflebeam, who helped start the project and was one of its first users, also admits it hasn't received as much use as he hoped.

"It's not being used as much as we would like and a lot of that has to do with making architects aware of it," Stufflebeam said. "It's going to take a breaking in period."

When asked which projects had most benefited since the calendar was launched, Stufflebeam said singling out a precise benefit was difficult.

"It's hard to define the benefit by putting your finger on a specific project, it's just a communication and coordination tool," Stufflebeam said.

Both Towe and Stufflebeam agreed they needed to get the word out and educate Springfield area architects about the online calendar.

Don Clark, purchasing agent for the city of Springfield, agrees that the online calendar has helped improved communication, and points out that forcing contractors to prepare bids for more than one project is "like giving a school kid too much homework."

That, he says, often means bids aren't prepared as carefully or with as close an attention to detail as they could be.

"In the rush of things he could end up making mistakes," Clark said.

The city has used the online calendar for two recent projects the Jordan Valley Exposition Center and the Jordan Valley parking facility.

"And (the expo center) was a pretty good-sized contract, in the neighborhood of $10 million," Clark said.

Clark also said the process can help prevent Springfield from having to compete with other cities, or other government agencies, for contractors because they are both bidding large projects on the same day.

"It makes sure we don't have conflict of bid dates; for example we're not biding something at the same time the school district is."

While the program could mean a savings in dollars for the city, Clark says he can't say for certain using the online calendar has affected the city's bottom line.

"I can't say that it has saved us money, but it certainly didn't cost us anything," Clark said.