2007 Customer Survey: 91 Percent Satisfaction

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 2007

SECRETARY SOUTH ANNOUNCES STATE PURCHASING HIGH CUSTOMER SATISFACTION RATE

TALLAHASSEE- Department of Management Services Secretary Linda H. South today announced that 91 percent of MyFloridaMarketPlace users report being satisfied with the program and its services according to the latest customer satisfaction survey. MyFloridaMarketPlace is the state's online, purchasing system for employees and vendors.

"The strategic sourcing process helps us get the best product for the best price and save the state money," said Secretary South. "MyFloridaMarketPlace is the tool that makes this possible for the State of Florida. These survey results reveal its success and how it increases our ability to be efficient, wise stewards for the people of Florida."

Purchasing and finance and accounting employees use the system more than any other group. Eighty-nine percent of purchasing respondents stated they are "moderately to very satisfied" with the purchasing tool, up from 84 percent in December 2006. Ninety-four percent of finance and accounting customers report being "moderately to very satisfied" with the invoicing tool, an increase of 17 percentage points from last year.

"The survey results show that MyFloridaMarketPlace is meeting and often exceeding expectations," said Deputy Secretary of Business Operations Shane Strum. "As we continue to improve the program and update its functionality, it becomes more efficient and user-friendly. That's a win-win for the state."

MyFloridaMarketPlace upgraded its system this spring with major functional changes made in part by direction and collaboration of 12 state agencies. The upgrade included leading-edge system performance management capabilities creating a more productive system. The upgrade helped standardize the purchasing and accounting users across all agencies reducing the number of unique users from more than 2,000 to 32 resulting in more efficient administration. Within the first week of operations, the system achieved two record days of invoice processing.

"The system is only as valuable as its ability to improve the way we do business, with speed, accountability and value," said Division of State Purchasing Director Charles Covington. "Our improvement plan looks at data-driven ways to satisfy our customers. It's no surprise that our improvements to MyFloridaMarketPlace would yield improved satisfaction from our customers. It's just good business."

The survey was distributed in August to 2,200 MyFloridaMarketPlace purchasing, finance and accounting customers with 19 percent participating in the survey. The survey targeted active system customers with a focus on proportional representation from each state agency. The majority of survey participants have used MyFloridaMarketPlace for more than two years.

The results were based on a five-point scale, with five being the highest or "most satisfied" compared to one as the lowest with "very dissatisfied." State purchasing personnel give MyFloridaMarketPlace its highest ratings for the ability to process purchase orders, and improvements in the implementation of online catalogs. The finance and accounting customers are most satisfied with their ability to process invoices, the MyFloridaMarketPlace invoice auditing process and the online response time.

Since its launch in 2004, MyFloridaMarketPlace has issued more than 470,000 purchase orders and 640,000 invoices. It's registered more than 90,000 vendors, including 28,000 minority-owned businesses. MyFloridaMarketPlace has generated more than $4.1 billion in total spending for goods and services.

To view the complete survey results, visit www.dms.MyFlorida.com.

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