HispanicBusiness

Over the next three years, a large portion of New Mexico state government will go paperless when contracting services and goods, the New Mexico General Services Department announced Monday.

This year, executive agencies -- those under the control of Gov. Susana Martinez -- will begin accepting bids for state contracts on a new, paperless e-procurement system, according to a news release.

The next step, following the acceptance of electronic bids, will come when contracts will begin to be hosted on a centralized electronic repository that allows tracking of delivery and completion dates. After that, vendors will begin to be able to store licenses or preference certificates electronically, eliminating the need for submission of those documents on every bid, the news release said.

Estimates are that New Mexico will save $2.1 million over three years by adopting the measures, the release said.

"This represents a major evolution in how the State does business," Martinez was quoted as saying in the news release. "Electronic procurement will save taxpayer dollars and greatly improve efficiency for vendors and state agencies by eliminating the need for vendors to submit binders and paper documents."

The state chose North Carolina-based SciQuest Inc. to help it make the leap to paperless contracts. New Mexico will pay SciQuest $67,860 in the first year for software and licensing and $38,500 to implement the software, Tim Korte, a department spokesman, said Monday. In each of the following four years, New Mexico will pay SciQuest nearly $70,000 for licensing annually, Korte added.

SciQuest was chosen for the job after the state of New Mexico participated in a multistate bid to determine how much it will cost to go paperless. The request for information, issued through the Western States Contracting Alliance, involved 17 states, Korte said. Thirty-eight firms responded to the request for information, and New Mexico chose to go with SciQuest, Korte said.