Two more ways for governments to buy

State and local governments seeking online procurement solutions now have

two more options, with this week's announcement from the Digital Commerce

Corp., and a partnership between Intelisys Electronic Commerce Inc. and

Information Management Specialists Inc., also known as Informs.

Digital Commerce, a developer of e-commerce solutions for the business-to-government

market, announced the launch of StateGovCenter.com, an electronic marketplace

designed exclusively for state and local government procurement. The online

utility is free to government users and features three functional components:

purchasing contracts, requests for quotes and open-market buys.

The state of Connecticut and the Fairfax County, Va., school system

have already adopted StateGovCenter.com.

Informs, based in Montgomery, Ala., will integrate Intelisys' Supplier

Managed Content into the procurement system that it has already been installed

in nine states and several counties. The company will also incorporate Intelisys

Web-based software and portal-based products into its Advanced Government

Purchasing System.

Informs procurement systems are in place in Tennessee, Illinois, Louisiana,

Minnesota, New Jersey and other states, as well as counties, including Los

Angeles and Baltimore counties.

The combination will allow state and local governments to electronically

search and configure products from multiple vendors, get automatic approval

and create a purchase order. Vendors will have greater access to government

contracts through a standard browser and an opportunity to make their products

and services available and searchable online. It will also offer New York-based

Intelisys' outsourced purchasing application to cities, towns and state

agencies looking to take advantage of statewide contracts.