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Winter Haven rolls out OpenGov procurement platform to widen vendor pool and speed bid Q&A
Summary
Procurement Officer Bethany Owen told the commission the city is live on OpenGov, reporting far higher vendor reach and new analytics that staff say should speed Q&A responses, improve transparency and provide templates and AI tools to help staff and small vendors prepare solicitations.
Winter Haven’s procurement team has launched the OpenGov procurement module to broaden vendor outreach and streamline solicitation management, Procurement Officer Bethany Owen told the City Commission.
Owen said the city is already seeing a notable jump in engagement: solicitations that once drew “one, two, three, potentially four” responses are now attracting “upward of 8 to 12” responses, and one recent posting had been viewed 464 times in two weeks. She told commissioners the platform’s subscription feature automatically notifies thousands of firms when solicitations matching their interests are posted.
The platform groups documents, Q&A, deadlines and site-visit RSVPs in one place. “When their question is asked, we’ll…
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