Welcome to Buyer Corner. This section is dedicated to you, the Buyer. Here you will fi nd announcements, updates, tips and other information specifi cally designed to keep you informed.

Time to Do a little Spring Cleaning

Do you keep copies of past requisitions by fi ling them into the Archive or another personal folder? Export the list to Excel or, better yet, delete what you don’t need!

Welcome to Vendor Corner. This section is dedicated to you, the Vendor. Here you will fi nd announcements, tips and other vendor information designed to help you get more value out of eVA.

Know Your Competitor’s Commodity Codes!

Did you know that there’s a quick & easy way to look up your (and your competition’s) commodity codes without having to access eVA’s Public Reports?

eVA Helps Local GovernmentDo More with Less

BUYER CORNER

1st Quarter 2010 Virginia’s Total e-Procurement Solution www.eva.virginia.gov

VENDOR CORNER

INSIDE‘New’ Coming in 2010...Pg 3.

Recipe for Success Series....Pg 6.

With cumulative savings of more than $278 million by state agencies and

institutions since eVA began in Fiscal Year 2001, and an estimated $40 million in savings for FY09 alone, the value eVA provides to the Commonwealth’s taxpayers seems self evident.

But state agencies aren’t the only government entities using eVA to save taxpayer dollars. Many local

governments across the Commonwealth are choosing to take advantage of the cost and time savings eVA has to offer.

Currently more than 570 localities are using eVA to stretch

already stressed resources and budgets—enabling them to do more with less. eVA’s fl exibility allows each Locality to customize user access, approval authority, and spending limits, all according to the organization’s existing workfl ow and purchasing rules.

Currently more than 570 localities are using eVA to stretch already stressed resources and budgets—enabling them to do more with less.

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Happy 9th Birthday, eVA Look How You’ve Grown!

2001160 Agencies/Institutions30 Local Governments3,505 Vendors200 Catalogs

Today171 Agencies/Institutions575 Local Governments41,490 Vendors983 Catalogs

Put a little pep back in your step...Delete those old items today!

Found at the bottom right side of the eVA homepage, click on ‘Vendors’ under ‘Watch eVA Grow/eVA Tools’. Type in the Vendor name, then click on ‘Vendor’s ID’ to see detailed information PLUS a list of that Vendor’s commodity codes.

Need Help Adding Commodity Codes to your Vendor Account?

Click on the training link found on the eVA homepage for step-by-step instructions. It even includes a demo!

eVA Customer Care is always ready to help M-F from 8am-5pm

EST 1-866-289-7367 or 804-371-2525

BUYER CORNER Continued

VENDORS Continued

With more than 41,000 registered suppliers, 14,000 of whom are Department of Minority Business Enterprises (DMBE) certifi ed small, women-owned, and/or minority-owned (SWaM) businesses, eVA reaches 30 times more suppliers than traditional purchasing methods.

Perhaps no one knows this better than Marvis Marshall, Henrico County’s Supplier Relations Coordinator. She’s been using eVA to reach her goal of increasing the number of SWaM suppliers that receive notifi cation of procurement opportunities. “The use of eVA has increased the number of suppliers responding to solicitations by about 50%,” Marshall said, “Therefore, it was a no-brainer for the county to use eVA.” As a result, Henrico has been able to reduce the cost of routinely purchased items, some as much as 76%.

Norfolk Public Schools (NPS) has also been using eVA to save. When it implemented a new electronic procurement system, NPS opted out of the system’s bidding capability because eVA’s solicitation tools, Quick Quote and Virginia Business Opportunities (VBO), “were functionally superior without the additional software licensing and maintenance costs.”

“…compared to our previous system, overall competition increased about 15% and our key performance indicator for procurement cycle time was signifi cantly reduced,” –Chris Steele, Senior Director Purchases & Supply, Norfolk Public Schools.

NPS has also discontinued maintaining its own vendor registration program and, instead, directs vendors to register with eVA and DMBE. Steele said that Vendors fi nd this is easier, and NPS gains vendor maintenance effi ciencies. Henrico County is also following this practice. Marshall said she knew that by streamlining the purchasing process there’d be cost savings. “…there’s no more paper materials (to mail), postage to pay, manual process, etc,”

Another locality stretching its dollars by using eVA is Fairfax County. It currently has about 145 eVA ‘shoppers,’ who in FY09 processed 274 eVA purchase orders valued at $2.7 million. Additionally, the County posts all solicitations through eVA, issuing 144 formal solicitations (IFB’s and RFP’s) through VBO and 227 Quick Quotes in FY 2009. “…The system documentation of each individual procurement action is excellent,” Roper added.

Contact an eVA local government account executive today to learn more about taking advantage of all that eVA has to offer!

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eVA Helps Local Government (Continued)

Welcome Aboard Suzanne Swinson

eVA’s Newest Local Government Account Executive!

Suzanne has joined Debbie Field in providing consulting, training & support to eVA local government users.

Contact them today to learn more!

Suzanne Swinson, VCO804-225-3354suzanne.swinson@dgs.virginia.gov

Debbie Field, VCO, CPPO804-786-1074debbie.fi eld@dgs.virginia.gov

“We highly value the convenience of the PunchOut

Catalogs…” said D’Arcy Roper, Manager Systems and

Customer Service Division, Department of Purchasing and

Supply Management.

New Year Means Lots of “New” Coming to eVA

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Vendor Self Service Portal-The Vendor Side of eVA

EASIERAccess account information as soon as logged inEnhanced Navigation

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You’ve heard it said that 2010 is…the year to win, begin again, get thin, etc. But what 2010 means to eVA’s users is a year fi lled with new features and enhanced functionality.

Here’s a preview of some of what 2010 has in store!

NEW At-a-glance view of Quick Quotes and VBO Solicitations

RELEASED February

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Quick Quote

NEW Set Aside Flag Will Save Time!

With one click eVA Buyers will be able to designate a Quick Quote as a Set Aside. The required text will be automatically displayed with the request title, saving them time from having to key it manually. Buyers will also gain the entire title field to use when describing their Quick Quote.

NEW ‘Cancel/Reissue’ and ‘No Award/Reissue’ Feature Soon a quick & easy way to re-issue a Quick Quote request! This new feature will copy all of the original information from a Quick Quote in cases when the Quick Quote needs to be reissued, saving eVA Buyers valuable time. (To avoid the risk of including attachments that may no longer be relevant, attachments will not be copied.)

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If time is money...these new features are sure to help eVA Buyers save (both!).

“New” Coming to eVA (Continued)

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VBO (Virginia Business Opportunities)– NEW Save Function

“New” Coming to eVA (Continued)

When creating a new VBO solicitation, Buyers are now able to save a draft and come back to complete the posting at a later time.

eMall (Shop Now)– NEW Contract numbers for non-catalog items

RELEASED February

Pre-loading contract numbers will make it faster and easier to identify non-catalog items purchased from an existing contract.

Attention Vendors! Social Media Counseling sponsored by the Virginia Department of Business Assistance

FREE one-on-one counseling on how to use Facebook, Twitter and other social media tools to promote your business and network about business opportunities at it’s Southwest Virginia offi ce:

Virginia Highlands Small Business Incubator

851 French Moore Jr. Blvd, Suite 110 Abingdon, Virginia.

Call Sandy Ratliff today to schedule an appointment at (276)-676-3768.

In this series, Creating a Recipe for Success, we continue to talk about eVA’s tools in terms of fundamental ingredients you can use to “bake” your own recipe towards success. These tools can help get your name in

front of the right buyers, provide free advertising, and even help identify your competition. In the last issue we talked about the 1st ingredient, Public Reports, used to identify who’s buying what you sell and who they’re buying from.

Now it’s time to get cooking again!

2nd Ingredient Commodity Codes Commodity Codes can mean the difference between receiving or not receiving an eVA email or fax notice

about a new Quick Quote or VBO business opportunity.

So just what are Commodity Codes? NIGP Commodity Codes, their official name, make up the numbering system commonly used by state and local governments to categorize the products and services they buy. Commodity codes are also used to tell eVA Buyers what you sell. Not having the right codes can cause you to miss out on getting notified about business opportunities.

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Increase Your Business Opportunities Creating a Recipe for Success—2nd Ingredient, Commodity Codes

Continued on page 7.

Commodity codes begin with a series of 3 digit “parent” class codes, each with a broad industry title.

It may not always be easy to find a perfect match for your goods/services, so it’s helpful to first understand how Commodity Codes are categorized.

Specific products/services within the “parent” class are 5 digit item codes that always begin with the parent code.

Tip: Commodity Codes beginning with “9” describe services. All others refer to products.

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Now that you understand how Commodity Codes are categorized, now it’s time to find the right codes for your Vendor account.

Increasing Opportunities (continued)

Use ‘NIGP Look-up’ Tool to Quickly Find the Right CodesFound on the left side of the eVA Home Page, this tool finds all Commodity Codes that have your “keyword” anywhere in the description. For example, if you sell animal food, start by searching the word ‘food.’

Next look for the most relevant class entry. Then search that ‘parent’ code to see all the codes that may describe your products/services, even if they don’t include the word ‘food’ in the description. (E.g. Dehydrated Feed)

Search Tips:Use simple keywords that are examples of what you sell Avoid plurals, adding ‘–ing’, etc.Only use one word...multi-word searches get less resultsTry industry or generic terms

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Know Your CodesUse the Vendor look-up tool, found at the bottom right side of the eVA homepage under ‘Watch eVA Grow/eVA Tools’ as a quick way to access your account details including a list of your Commodity Codes. This tool is also a fast way to research your competition’s Commodity Codes.

Need More Help?eVA Customer Care is always ready to help! Get live assistance M-F 8am-5pm (EST), except major holidays, toll free at 1-866-289-7367 or locally at 804-371-2525. You can also send them an email at eVACustomerCare@dgs.virginia.gov.

Coming next in our series, Catalogs! They provide free advertising and might just be what you need to boost your business opportunities.

Increasing Opportunities (continued)

So What Now? Once you’ve identified the codes that you need, add them to your Vendor account!

There is no limit to the number of Commodity Codes you can have so be creative. Think about how your customers might describe what you sell and include those codes. More commodity codes can mean more opportunities! Access the step-by-step guide on Commodity Codes under the ‘eVA Customer Care’ tab from the eVA Homepage, topic #11.

Writers/Contributors Chris Steele, C.P.M., CMA, CPPB, CPCP D’Arcy RoperSenior Director Purchases & Supply County of Fairfax Norfolk Public Schools Manager Systems & Customer Service Div Dept of Purchasing & Supply Mngmnt

Debbie Field, VCO, CPPO Marvis Marshall, CPPBProcurement Management Account Executive Supplier Relations CoordinatorDGS, Division of Purchases and Supply County of Henrico Department of General Services Division of Purchasing and Support ServicesSuzanne Swinson, VCOProcurement Management Account ExecutiveDGS, Division of Purchases and Supply

eVA Connections is published by the e-Procurement Bureau of the Division of Purchases and Supply, Department of General Services. Bringing together the businesses, state and local government buyers, and other public servants, in recognition of the value that e-procurement brings to the Commonwealth. Please submit feedback and story ideas to Kimberly.Madison@dgs.virginia.gov.

Writer/Editor Kim Madisone-Commerce Outreach Coordinator, e-Procurement BureauDGS, Division of Purchases and Supply