October-December 2008 (Quarterly Newsletter)
News & Events
The Sky is Falling!
by Mary Jo Furphy
One day Chicken Little was picking up corn in the cornyard when–whack!– something hit her upon the head. “Goodness gracious me!” said Chicken Little; “the sky's a-going to fall; I must go and tell the king!”
We are all familiar with this story since we heard it as young children. Per Wikipedia, “The phrase, “"The sky is falling,"” has passed into the English language as a common idiom indicating a hysterical or mistaken belief that disaster is imminent.” My purpose is not to cause hysteria, but to get your attention so you get registered!"Change is imminent and we need you to take notice and take action."
Pima County is changing how they do business and we have been communicating this to the community since April. Change is imminent and we need you to take notice and take action. We are no longer faxing notices of solicitation opportunities to vendors based on our old database.
Pima County has a great new online system called VRAMP. VRAMP stands for Vendor Registration and Messaging Portal and it allows Internet access directly between businesses and Procurement. VRAMP will be used by Procurement to send emails to selected registered vendors. Procurement will query for potential vendors based on criteria that you entered that is relevant to the message that is being sent. An example of this is when Procurement is publishing a new solicitation; we will search for vendors that registered stating they can supply the commodity we are looking for. It is in your best interest to make sure that you fill out your type of work and the commodities that you offer. A courtesy notice will be sent to all vendors in VRAMP who meet that criterion.
"We can NOT send a notice to your business, unless you have registered."
We can NOT send a notice to your business, unless you have registered. Please register in VRAMP at our website http://www.pima.gov/procure/ . The direct link to register is: http://www.pima.gov/procure/venreg.htm
If you have any questions about VRAMP or need assistance, please contact us at 520-740-8161 or 520-740-3807. Don't be a hysterical chicken and declare the sky is falling just because we have changed – get registered!