MOHAVE COUNTY – In November 2023, the Mohave County Board of Supervisors approved a $290,000 allocation from Supervisor Buster Johnson’s District III share of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for a five-year software agreement with OpenGov. This project was designed to modernize the county’s procurement system through a digital transition. Recently, the County’s Procurement Department published its first formal construction project solicitation using OpenGov, highlighting the benefits of the new software. “This software will provide Mohave County with a comprehensive procurement solution,” stated Supervisor Johnson. “”It will modernize our procurement department by helping us reach more potential bidders, make our procurement decisions more transparent, and improve efficiency through better collaboration and standardized processes. It also offers real-time reporting of procurement data.”
The County’s new Reachout Facility, a proposed two-story building adjacent to the Mohave County Adult Detention Center in Kingman, was the first construction project published using the new software. The Reachout Facility will house the County’s Re-entry program, which aims to help recently released inmates transition back into society, and a new detox center for those needing help or required by the court system to get clean and sober. The project was put out for bids at the end of May, allowing potential bidders to submit their bids and ask questions all within the software.
According to Mohave County’s Procurement Director, Tara Acton, they were able to reach more bidders than usual and attracted interest from vendors who were previously out of reach. “Before using OpenGov, we would email every trade and general contractor on our list when a construction project went live. I assume that 90% of them didn’t even look at the documents because they weren’t relevant to their trade, and they had to download the documents to see the project details,” Director Acton explained.
The new system directly notified 376 potential bidders about the project. “We had over 1,000 views and more than 40 document downloads by interested bidders. This wider reach is crucial for driving down county costs,” Acton stated. Unlike the previous practice, which required Procurement Officers to directly notify vendors registered with Mohave County, the new software notification process reaches any vendor registered with OpenGov. According to Acton, procurement staff had to move the pre-bid meeting from its original location because attendance was so high on the project.
The new OpenGov software brings benefits not only to vendors bidding on County contracts and projects but also to Mohave County taxpayers. “Interested bidders can see which other vendors are interested in a project. I believe this competitive visibility helps reduce prices,” Acton noted. The software also enhances transparency by making all contracts searchable and viewable by the public, eliminating the need for formal public records requests.
