Challenge
The City of Philadelphia dealt with slow, manual administrative processes that delayed RFP reviews.
Solution
Quickbase streamlined workflows and automated data collection, improving efficiency.
Results
RFP review times fell from six weeks to three to four days, saving nearly half a million dollars in custom app costs.
The Struggle
The City of Philadelphia’s administrative processes had been a marathon of emails, Word documents, and endless back-and-forth. Managing requests for minority participation ranges in RFPs, tracking down lost documents, and correcting errors became a tangled workflow spanning weeks. “It was a four to six-week process,” said Mihir Mulloth, the Chief Administrative Officer’s Policy and Project Manager. “Emails would get lost; documents would get lost.” With a setup so labor-intensive, any slight mistake meant resetting the clock.
But these challenges ran even deeper. “We were helping departments handle requests manually,” Mulloth added, “which not only led to delays but also stretched the team’s bandwidth thin.” They knew something had to change.
They turned to Quickbase, initially adopted as part of the city’s COVID-19 response, and it proved an extremely valuable agent of change.
The Quickbase Fix
Quickbase entered the scene as a versatile tool, bridging policy needs with technical requirements—all without the need for complex coding. “I don’t have a coding background, so Quickbase is super powerful for me,” Mihir noted. While the team briefly considered alternatives, they quickly saw how Quickbase’s no-code platform made it easy to create solutions for different city departments and workflows.
Ever since we started using [Quickbase], there's never been a reason for us to look for another tool.
Quickbase’s low-code platform stood out for its flexibility. Mihir and his team standardized workflows by implementing a digital form that automatically validated inputs, drastically reducing human errors. Automation became the new norm, cutting out repetitive tasks and allowing real-time progress tracking.
With Quickbase, we've built a streamlined, centralized intake process that’s fully accessible across departments.
The team even integrated it with the city’s existing Formstack, enabling departments without Quickbase licenses to input data directly into Quickbase’s back end.
The Quickbase Impact
With Quickbase in place, the City of Philadelphia slashed RFP review times from up to six weeks down to a stunning three to four days.
We were really surprised at the time reduction...It opened our eyes to Quickbase’s potential for the city.
In just two years, the team has built 31 active applications, each saving the city substantial costs. “Almost every department was considering financing a custom solution before coming to us,” Mihir recalled. But since adopting Quickbase, Mihir estimates they're looking at nearly half a million dollars in cost avoidance. "Our Quickbase license is really paying for itself,” Mihir confirmed.
The city’s investment in Quickbase has transformed workflows, cut down processing times, and delivered substantial financial savings. By centralizing and standardizing digital workflows, the City of Philadelphia is now not only saving time and money but also creating a government that works smarter for its residents.
