Ulster County News

FROM: ULSTER COUNTY PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE

DATE: September 24, 2003  

The New York State Forum for Information Resource Management (NYSFIRM) recently recognized Ulster County and the other members of the Hudson Valley Municipal Purchasing Group (HVMPG) with its "Best of the Web" Award for Local Governments for its Regional Bid Notification and E- Procurement System. The founding members of the HVMPG were honored at the Forum’s annual meeting held on September 12, 2003 in Albany and included the Counties of Rockland, Dutchess, Ulster, Orange, the City of New Rochelle and the Town of Cortlandt.

The Counties of Ulster, Dutchess, Rockland, the City of New Rochelle, the Town of Cortlandt, and the Pearl River School District joined forces in April 2002 to create the HUDSON VALLEY MUNICIPAL PURCHASING GROUP (HVMPG) to establish a Regional Bid Notification Service and E- Procurement System. This alerts and notifies businesses within the Hudson Valley of municipal contracting opportunities. Participation in the Group is open to all municipalities, school districts and other government agencies within the Hudson Valley. Twenty municipalities are currently members of the HVMPG, which includes 5 counties and 3 cities.

The HVMPG’s Regional Bid Notification System promotes economic development for local businesses by providing easy access to numerous local government bidding opportunities that were not easily accessible prior to the implementation of the HVMPG System. Hudson Valley business owners can now visit a single web site to search for and download bidding opportunities from the numerous local government agencies within the Hudson Valley. This provides instant access to Bids, RFP's, Quotes and Amendments online. For businesses this means that companies who regularly did business with Ulster County now have access to Bids, Quotes and RFPs from all the other counties and members of the HVMPG group.

Since its inception over 1335 local government-contracting opportunities within the Hudson Valley have been posted to the system.

The HVMPG Regional Bid Notification System is a great success story for the Hudson Valley. The HVMPG System is the largest Regional Bid Notification System in the Country, posting the largest number of contracting opportunities, and registering the most businesses.

Any municipality or political subdivision in Rockland, Orange, Sullivan, Ulster, Westchester, Putnam and Dutchess Counties is eligible to join and use the HVMPG Regional Bid Notification System. Any government entity can contact Paul Brennan, Director of Purchasing for Rockland County at BrennanP@co.rockland.ny.us.

While Regional Planning and Regional Cooperation always seems to be a hot topic when discussing purchasing by local governments within New York State, finding actual success stories can be a daunting task. The HVMPG Regional Bid Notification System is now one of those few successes.

Local businesses can register on the Regional Bid Notification System at: www.co.ulster.ny.us