I have covered this subject lightly before. Now to share the project I mentioned in the "Working Toward Paperless" article.

A great deal of paper used to be processed for job bids. Basically when a school district needs work done that will require a contractor, there is a bid process to ensure funds are used as prudently as possible. In this process, complete print outs of blue prints, plans, descriptions of work and any changes thereafter were prepared on paper for all participants. At the beginning of the process enough materials were prepared for all of the respondents plus a few extra copies. Work descriptions could have 2 or 3 hundred pages with all of our criteria spelled out for ADA, Fire Safety, Learning Environment Requirements, etc... The amount of paper and time to prepare these was huge. The cost of oversize prints for plans and blue prints was also very large. These steps were all necessary as we did not have a viable alternative.

Now we have an alternative. After I personally configured a computer here to be a web-server, our tech department made the machine accessible to the Internet. After this, I worked closely with our drafter who is also a very qualified website designer to create a space for making the process paperless. The drafter is involved with almost every step of the bid process as plans and blueprints for our records as well as county records are managed and maintained by her. Plans are generally very large CAD drawings accurate to the inch for the building and all of its systems including the grounds it is on, water lines, electrical wiring, communication wiring, ventilation ducts, etc... With the insight of the drafter, a very clear layout was created for conveying the material required. The best part is the bid materials can be updated instantly and all those who are participating can be notified and will be able to view the changes immediately.

Using historic costs, this project will save us close to $100,000 a year! This is a very smart step financially as well as a huge benefit to the environment by paper avoidance.

Currently there are only two bids in the system. You can take a peek if you like by following the related link.