2-System Requirements.pdf

Conformance to System Requirements

Marketing

We have numerous marketing methods which are created to maximize revenue for ADOT and this information can be found under our confidential section. We input this information in that section as we do feel it gives us a competitive advantage and enables us to make more money then other auction sites so we ask that this is kept confidential. In addition, our current pricing model offered to the State is as low as any in the industry for online auctions with at least 500,000 buyers. If there is a lower rate offered we do offer a price match guarantee to beat the rate being offered.

Our various marketing techniques are outlined in the confidential section. Ultimately, our entire goal is to make you the most money possible as that in turn increases the revenue we bring in. With this in mind we are constantly looking for marketing methods and improving the bottom line of your items.

Financial Stability

We are a privately owned company with one owner that has no company debt. Below are our sales figures for the past three years and if the State would like us to provide specific financial documents please let us know which accounting items you need and we will get it over to you within the five business day request.

1. Total sales numbers for the past three years

2018: $112,868,175.85

2019: $126,791,113.65

2020: $132,667,897.32

Additional Products

Our company offers ADOT members many different avenues of government procurement that none of our competitors do offer. If a ADOT member utilizes our Public Surplus service they can also utilize our e-procurement software, Public Purchase for free. They can also get a discounted rate using our contract management software, Public Contract. Finally, we offer our Public Surplus service for free to our ADOT members. Anything sold on the system will have the buyer pay our fee so the using member will never owe Public Surplus anything.

Default Bidders

We have many steps in place to deter default bidders. Many of these steps happen system-wide but the agency is also in control of monitoring and blocking buyers directly from their auctions.

A. We have a buyer department that monitors buyers that are bidding on our system. If a buyer goes over our “Default Limit” our buyer department will immediately suspend that buyer from bidding on our system and prevent any future registrations on our system from that buyer.

B. We give the agency full authority and ability to “block” buyers directly from bidding on their auctions if they do not wish to deal with a buyer because of defaults or any other set of circumstances. Once the agency blocks the buyer they do also have the ability to unblock the buyer if they desire.

C. We have a “Bid Deposit” system in place that automatically puts a $50 bid deposit on any auction over $500 on our website. This ensures that buyers bidding on those auctions have money down upfront and if they win that auction but default they will lose out on that money.

We also have a feature that we can enable for the agency, if desired, that will allow the agency to set the bid deposit amount above or below $50 based on the estimated value of the item.

Internal Reallocation

Many government agencies are required by state or local mandate to offer their surplus items for internal transfer before they auction them to the public. The Public Surplus auction system has a built-in internal reallocation feature for you to offer your surplus items to departments withinyour agency, or to other affiliated agencies or non-profit entities. You can do this before (or instead of) offering the items to the general public. Items offered for internal reallocation are not auctioned;

they are offered on a first-come, first-served basis for a specific price or for free.

Internal reallocation is an automated tool to manage your surplus property and will save you the hassle of creating an email for an item and sending to multiple contacts before listing it for public auction.

Using this feature allows you to make the item available internally for a set time before it is available to be bid on by the public. You also have the option to make items available internally only, and not be offered to the public at all.

In order to invite departments/agencies to view your internal auctions Public Surplus will provide you an Internal Registration hyperlink and Registration Code. The department/affiliate then registers and will be notified of all internal reallocation listings as they are listed. This is just a one-time registration.

You can select how long you would like an item listed as Internal Reallocation by selecting the number of days (between 4 and 42) from the drop down menu under Time Frame when you are creating an auction. You can set a price for the item under Internal Price. If you would like to give the item away for free you can enter zero (0.00) in the Internal Price box. If an item has not sold before the end date it will automatically be released as a current auction if the agency desires.

There is no fee associated with internal reallocation and we only make money on this feature if the item isn't claimed internally and it goes out for public bid. We will then receive our fee on top of the sale price from the buyer. We have been a master and innovator of this system for many years and will work hand-in-hand with the agency to set it up exactly for what is needed.

Public Surplus will not receive any commission on internal items that are reallocated and if the items are not claimed internally they will then go out to Public Auction and the agency will be able to select a minimum price and reserve price on these items that are deemed appropriate by agency staff.

Departments

Our system is built with an extensive department feature that several of our agencies use. The biggest client is the City of New York that has over 200 departments setup in our system. The departments are assigned users and these users can post items on behalf of each department. ADOT will be able to monitor and edit these departments.

Permission Based System

Our system is a permission based system that allows the agency administrators to manually select the permissions and controls that each user in the system is able to access and navigate. The agency will be able to specify who is adminstrators on the website and who has the ability to create/release auctions.

Once the agency begins using our system we will help them create their users with the needed access and then they can begin creating auctions

Our online system is designed for ease of use when it comes to auction creation. Users are able to use an excel upload file to create a lot of auctions or can manually create them 1 by 1 with our standard form.

Once the auctions are live we have easy to use features that give the agency the ability to revise existing listings, copy existing listings for creation of new listings, and the ability to retract or end listings. All of these features are readily accessible from the seller user menu.

Auction Listing Information

The Public Group understands that the agency will exclusively determine the items and equipment available for surplus. The agency will have the utmost flexibility in how the listings may be conducted.

The following functionality is included in our solution:

I. Ability to have multiple line items per lot (ie. Computers);

ii. Ability to have one asset per listing (i.e. vehicles);

iii. Ability to have dutch auctions (i.e. same item and condition but multiple quantities and multiple bidders can purchase one or many)

Our system is built specifically for government agencies and we have the ability for agencies to add their own inventory categories they want on each item. These fields are customizable and can be tracked and reported. We are able to customize whatever information for tracking purposes that the agency would need.

After the agency inputs the information they want in the auction creation page it will go to a “Held” section that will allow any agency users with the correct permissions to view and release the items for sale.

While the auctions are out for sale the agency will be able to view who is bidding on the item, the number of bids and the current price the bidding is out. The auction page will also show all contact information for the agency employees responsible for the auction. The agency will also be able to place any additional information about the item that they would like in this section such as payment and pickup procedures.

Once an item is released for sale our system allows any user to search for auctions on our website using our search feature. Users that are on the website will be able to search for current auctions as well as closed auctions. Buyers are able to search for items by a specific region and/or specific agency. Below is an example of using this search feature for past auction data.

During the duration of the auction buyers are able to access the auction page and ask questions they may have pertaining to the auction. The user that created the auction will then be notified of the question and be able to answer it via e-mail and/or on the website. The user will be able to review the question and approve or deny it before responding and providing an answer.

When a buyer goes to bid on an auction they will have to agree to the terms and conditions that the agency is able to create and edit. When a buyer goes to bid on these items they must agree to the terms, which works as an electronic signature agreeing to whatever specifications the agency has set forth.

Below is an example of an agreement page.

Once an auction ends our system automatically sends a winning notification and payment notification to the buyers after payment has been made. The agency will be able to customize the information e-mailed to the buyers. The agency also has the ability to manually send notifications through our e-mail system within our website.

These winning bidder notifications go out automatically after each auction is ended. The winning bidder and agency will both receive the e-mail notification. The agency is able to customize the information they want within this winning notification. The agency is also able to manually send this information to the winning bidder or second bidder if they want to offer the item to them through our system.

You can view any auctions that ended on our closed auction tab which will show all auctions that closed, the price they ended for bid and who the winning bidder was. The main closing page on an auction looks like the following:

Once the auction closes the buyer has 5 business days to pay for their item and then 5 days from payment to pickup the item. The agency can negotiate these terms with the buyer if they so desire. If the agency has any issues with buyers then the agency will have the ability to block or otherwise decline bidders / buyers whom have defaulted on previous agency or any other government agencies auctions.

Additionally, Public Surplus can block or otherwise restrict buyers on a per case basis.

Website information

Our website has over 100 categories/subcategories that agencies can post items in. These categories include computers, heavy equipment, furniture, vehicles, and many more. Our website is able to be translated into Spanish, French and English. On average we receive over 7,000,000 hits per day. Since ADOT is currently a user of our system you have full access to view the system with your current login. We can also create a login for you if you have additional people that need to see the website. All of our terms and conditions that buyers/agencies agree to are at the end of this response.

Demonstrations We are happy to provide any demonstrations that may be needed to show our system functionality. We can do this in person or online for ADOT.