News
through a state entity, such as a Department of Education, and others are local or regional. One example of a local program is the
Buying Power Purchasing Cooperatives Can Save School Districts Time, Money
WRITTEN BY JEANETTE REVELES
For school districts that own and maintain their own bus fleets, purchasing is a big part of keeping operations running smoothly. From the vehicles to their parts, there are many things that may need to be bought at any given time. But how can school districts, with often limited budgets and busy staff save time and money when mak- ing necessary purchases? One way to do this is through cooperative purchasing
programs. In a recent survey of School Transportation News readers, a third of the more than 200 respondents indicated that their districts are part of some kind of purchasing cooperative. Of these, the majority noted that one of the main reasons they belong to these is competitive pricing for buses and other supplies. “In some cases these organizations help us get the best price possible for the service or commodity that we are purchasing. It also helps us qualify vendors more quickly so we are able to utilize their products or services,” commented Laura Carter, transportation director at the Greenville Independent School District in Northern Texas. Others cited the streamlining of purchasing as a rea- son their operations belong to these groups. “Te State of Florida has the state bid and options all set in place and up to standards and requirements. It offers one-stop shopping and choices,” wrote Steve Dan- iels, transportation supervisor at the Hernando County School District. Tere are different types of cooperative purchasing programs. For example, some are national, some are
28 School Transportation News • JULY 2016
Oakland County School Purchasing Officials, which represents Oakland Schools in Michigan, as well as 28 other public school districts in the county as well as other private and charter schools. Tis group bids with vendors for contracts on behalf of the member districts for things like school bus tires and over 400 different school bus parts, as well as other products not related
to transportation. Vicky Gundlach, 33%
a buyer at the Oakland Schools’ Office of Procurement and Contracting shared with School Transportation News that the district saved over $3 million dollars in purchases last year by bidding through cooperative purchasing programs. Te Central Indiana Educational Service Center designed a web-based purchasing program with coop- eration from member school districts and school bus vendors, which allows these districts to take advantage of group purchasing rates, regardless of the size of the order. Trough the bus purchase program, CIESC requests proposals from dealers, informs the CIESC/ IAESC member school districts of the bid results and coordinates the purchase of buses. Barney Summers, the district’s cooperative purchasing coordinator, explained that the program provides easy access to both vendors and school districts “All bidding, configuration of specifications and finalizing of a purchase can be completed within the software. We administer two bids a year to keep the pricing fresh,” he said, adding that, since the implemen- tation of the program in 2007, more than 80 percent of the public school districts in Indiana have purchased 4277 buses worth a total of $383 million. Te issue of the cooperative purchasing of school bus also caught the attention of legislators in recent years. Curtis Hanson, an Iowa state representative, introduced a bill in 2013 that proposed a centralized school bus purchasing program through the Iowa Department of Education and Iowa Department of Administrative Services.
33% of survey respondents indicated they belong to a purchasing cooperative.
“I think it’s a wonderful way to save taxpayers money
and save schools money and plus, reduce the paperwork and the legwork that local schools have to do,” Hanson told Radio Iowa at the time. However, the bill eventually died. l
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