The State of Ohio IT Management Services Group

The State of Ohio Office of Information Technology determined that it needed to obtain a high-quality, comprehensive, contract management software system to streamline and improve its operations.

Background

To address this issue, a multi-discipline, 8-person evaluation panel was convened which resulted in the creation and submission of a Request For Proposal (RFP) to obtain new technology. The following information is taken directly from the Vendor Recommendation Document, which provided a high-level overview of the evaluation process and the panel’s rationale for selecting Omnicom, Omniware’s Enterprise Contract Management Software.

The State of Ohio Office of Information Technology Management Service Group received a list of several Contract Management System (CMS) vendors from a consultant engaged to look at their contracting processes. Additionally, the Gartner Group provided them with a list of CMS vendors to consider. Based on a review of available information from their consultants and discussions with Gartner Group, the IT Management Services Group narrowed the focus of their software search to six vendors. When the initial research indicated that several of the CMS packages provided Request For Quote capabilities, they decided to expand the evaluation committee to include Acquisition Management.

Two of the prospective vendors dropped out of the process at this point. One was an extremely expensive package as the vendor had quoted a price of approximately $1.5 million. Web-based and on-site demonstrations were held with the remaining four prospective vendors. Omniware’s on-site demonstration went well. The software proved powerful and provided an extensive workflow capability that could be tailored to the client’s document creation needs and their desire to have the justification for contract changes documented.

Omnicom’s system was up and running in just three months from award of the contract.

Omnicom’s solution operates in a Windows Server environment and can rely upon an Oracle or MS SQL database. It also permits access through either a client-server configuration or through the web. The Evaluation Committee was concerned that they would quickly ‘outgrow the functionality of their second choice of software. They had no such concern with Omniware. 

“We probably (will) never grow out of Omnicom. We contacted three references that Omniware provided us. All references gave us good reports regarding Omnicom’s functionality and support.”

In summary, the State of Ohio Office of Information Technology cited the following rationale for selecting Omnicom Enterprise Contract Management Software:

“While Omniware’s CMS solution was the least expensive package to license, it provided the most comprehensive set of tools. Omniware offered the State of Ohio a server license with unlimited users (at one tenth the price of the highest bidder.) Members of the Evaluation Committee felt Omnicom was the best package of all the solutions we had seen. Based on this thorough evaluation process, we determined that Omniware’s Omnicom Software was the best Contract Management Solution provider for our needs.”