It was brought to our attention that the procurement community desired a tool to address all things cooperative – specifically analyzing and addressing components as cooperative agreements are considered. The “Roadmap to a Cooperative Procurement Strategy” was born in a National Cooperative Procurement Partners committee meeting and publicly presented for the first time in November 2016 at the National Procurement Institute's annual conference.

To bring the roadmap to life, we invited Carrie Mathes (Woodel when this series started, but happily married with a new last name now), chief procurement official for the Orange County Board of County Commissioners in Florida, and Craig Rader, purchasing agent for Sacramento County in California, to contribute their experiences and practices regarding each 'landmark' along the cooperative purchasing map.

In our Voice of Choice Winter Edition, Carrie and Craig weighed in on what a public agency considers when analyzing and evaluating a cooperative purchasing agency; in this edition, they'll provide insight on how they analyze and evaluate a cooperative purchasing contract.

What do you consider when you analyze and evaluate a cooperative purchasing contract?

Carrie Mathes (formerly Carrie Woodell), MPA, CFCM, CPPO, C.P.M., CPPB, A.P.P.​
Chief Procurement Official, Orange County (Fla.) Board of County Commissioners

“When considering utilizing an alternate contract source, we require a full understanding of what the contract language entails.

For instance, we carefully review the contract terms regarding indemnification, length of the contract, payment and delivery terms, insurance provisions, required licensure or bonding requirements, applicable warranties, and termination provisions.

We review the contract terms in their entirety to ensure it is not inclusive of any provisions that would be detrimental to the county when considering use of the alternate contract. We strive to receive a similar level of protection for the county that we would in our own contract documents."

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Craig Rader, CPPO, CPPB
Purchasing Agent, Sacramento County

“When utilizing cooperative contracts, the county of Sacramento will review, in addition to pricing, the basic terms and condition of the contract, such as payment terms, FOB point, return policy, warranty, etc.

Depending on the commodity or service being performed, we will dive deeper for commodity- or service-specific requirements, such as certifications that may be required by the State of California. We also need to consider funding requirements. For example, if the purchase is federally funded, we will determine if the cooperative checked the federal debarment listing when the contract was established and renewed (if applicable). If not, we will need to perform this check.

If there are multiple cooperative agreements for the commodity or service, which is not uncommon, we will review the various contracts and perform a “bake-off” or side-by-side comparison. Our analysis includes pricing and various terms as mentioned above.

Do not underestimate the level of effort that may be required to perform your due diligence, as the process can take several months to obtain all the necessary information and perform your analysis.”

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The Roadmap asks the following when performing an analysis of a cooperative purchasing contract:

• Does the awarded contract contain the specifi­c solution you require?
• When was the contract awarded, and when does it expire?
• What are the qualifications, capabilities, and financial health of the awarded supplier?
• Does the vendor have the capacity to fulfill your agency’s needs?
• Can you obtain a copy of all applicable contract documents?
• How is pricing addressed? Is it actual, percentage discount from a list, or ceiling-based pricing?
• Can the terms and conditions of the contract be amended to meet the needs of your agency? Indemnity clause?
• How is contract use monitored? Are usage reports available?
• Is there a rebate on the contract? How is that paid? Can it be credited against the contract pricing?
• Does the cooperative have a process for vendor issues or disputes?

As a government agency, NJPA performs all of its solicitations – the awarded contracts that you, our members find value in. We’d like to recognize the outstanding efforts of our own procurement team – the NJPA employees who research, award, and manage all our awarded contracts. Their work allows us to offer 275 competitively solicited commodity and service contracts, and 243 Indefinite Quantity Construction (ezIQC) contracts to agencies across North America.

Procurement Manager Chris Robinson, J.D., and his team solicit over 50 contract categories annually. The team’s goal is to implement a consistent, fair, and strategic procurement process that results in awarded contracts that are valuable and valued. Chris currently serves as a board member for the National Procurement Institute (NPI), and his interaction and networking with other NPI board members in the procurement professional exposes Chris to the evolving and current challenges our members face. Chris’s team works diligently to research, prepare, and produce the competitive solutions our members find beneficial.

How are you celebrating Procurement Month?​

It was brought to our attention that the procurement community desired a tool to address all things cooperative – specifically analyzing and addressing components as cooperative agreements are considered. The “Roadmap to a Cooperative Procurement Strategy” was born in a National Cooperative Procurement Partners committee meeting.

To bring the roadmap to life, we invited Carrie Woodell, chief procurement official for the Orange County Board of County Commissioners in Florida, and Craig Rader, purchasing agent for Sacramento County in California, to contribute their experiences and practices regarding each 'landmark' along the cooperative purchasing map.

In our Spring newsletter Craig and Carrie weighed in on what a public agency should consider internally; in this edition, they address how they analyze and evaluate cooperative organizations.

What do you consider when you analyze and evaluate cooperative purchasing agencies?

Carrie Woodell
Chief Procurement Official, Orange County (Fla.) Board of County Commissioners

“Although the County’s Procurement Ordinance extends authority to the Chief Procurement Official to purchase goods and/or services through cooperative purchasing, we have a responsibility to conduct research related to each specific contract as well as the contracting body prior to making a determination for use of contract. Our validation process requires a complete understanding of how the cooperative organization is structured.

• Is there enabling legislation that recognizes the organization as a political subdivision?
• Does the organization use a lead agency to facilitate the formal solicitation process?
• Who is responsible for contract administration?

Accessibility to all associated contracting documents is another requirement in our decision-making process. The contracting documents include all formal solicitation documents and addenda, bid tabulation or scoring documents, notice of intent to award as well as the fully executed contract and all amendments. These documents should be fully accessible through the organization’s website, so we can verify that the contract is still valid, and perform price analysis to determine if the contract is inclusive of our requirements, and the pricing is advantageous.”

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Craig Rader
Purchasing Agent, Sacramento County

“Like our colleagues at the Orange County Board of Commissioners, the County of Sacramento’s ordinance also allows for the purchase goods and services through the use of cooperative contracts. The County of Sacramento reviews all of the cooperative agencies available to us, and we have utilized various contracts from most of the national cooperatives.

Once we determine that a co-op’s procurement process aligns with our own, and their moral and ethical compass points in the same direction that ours does, we will consider the contracts they offer. Analyzing and evaluating co-ops is a relatively quick process and usually done only once.

However, the due diligence performed on each contract we consider accessing is a more involved process that includes many factors such as, but not limited to:

• term of contracts (when were the contracts executed, when do the contracts end, are they any renewals options)

• pricing (what is the pricing structure- fixed, maximum amount but negotiable, etc.)

• any previous experience with suppliers (supplier performance) or feedback from references

• supplier's reputation

• delivery lead-times, and

• local supplier presence for service contracts.”

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The Roadmap asks the following when performing a cooperative analysis:

• Does your agency have to register or join the cooperative, and is there an associated fee?
• What procurement laws does the cooperative follow in soliciting, evaluating, and awarding their contracts? Where and how was the solicitation advertised?
• Does the cooperative conduct its own procurement process, or utilize another agency as the lead? Has the lead agency or the cooperative received any 3^rd party audits, peer review, or achieved awards for their contracting process?
• Does their website contain accessible and thorough contract documentation? Is contact information provided to readily conduct more in-depth research? What is the level of customer service in response to questions, concerns or requests for information?
• Is the cooperative a member of any National cooperative association that has high ethical values and standards for its members?