For most public entities, working on a tight budget is the order of the day. But expenses continue to rise. There is a need to find a creative solution to the problem.
Sourcing and procurement are key components of every public entity's budget. Managing it well can relieve the pressure on the expenses of your entity. Turning to cooperative purchasing contracts can help you realize this goal.
Under cooperative purchasing, you can access ready-to-use contracts whenever you need to source products. Here’s how cooperative purchasing can help you streamline sourcing and procurement.
Public entities spend a great deal of valuable time sourcing for worthy suppliers. Many companies sell vehicles on the market, and while going through their bids one by one to find the perfect match can be time consuming, you must conduct due diligence on all your suppliers before entering a contract with them.
A team that engages in competitive solicitation on your behalf in cooperative purchasing can save you a significant amount of time that you would have used in drafting bids and requesting proposals. Furthermore, contracts are already awarded in cooperative purchasing platforms. You can get vehicles within a short time after selecting a supplier.
Since contractors are already available, cooperative contract purchasing has an element of certainty. You no longer have to worry about needing to extend staff time to fast-track their procurement.
Cost savings arise from eliminating the need for a few of the procurement processes—for example, the need to conduct due diligence when sourcing for suppliers. In cooperative contract purchasing, another agency identifies and pre-qualifies all contractors on your behalf. All you have to do is pick the one that you want to do business with. There is no need to revise budgets to accommodate overtime payments to shorten the sourcing time frame.
Participating in cooperative purchasing is free. There are no least order quantities for the products that you need. Public entities that use this procurement do not have to pay expensive fees for issuing RFPs during sourcing. Saving all these costs and channeling the resources to the core functions of your public entity can improve its service delivery.
Cooperative purchasing connects you with top-notch suppliers, the ones that enjoy economies of scale. They produce high-quality products at manageable operational costs. Agencies that offer cooperative contract programs leverage their years of procurement experience to negotiate discounts from suppliers. Moreover, members of the program can enjoy better trading terms and conditions.
When you have quality fleets, you will not have to repair or replace them for a while. You will also be saving on these costs in the long term because of the value of the products. The agency or the public that it serves will not suffer, as mechanical issues seldom ground such fleets.
Cooperative purchasing is ideal if you need fleets of particular standards. When you join the program, access to diverse suppliers is only a click away. Once you state the specifications that you are looking for, a team connects you to the right supplier.
All contracts in the program follow the applicable regulations. This shields you from potential legal queries arising from your procurement procedures and eliminates the possibility of procuring products that don't meet industry standards.
A cooperative purchasing program brings together different sourcing and procurement experts. They develop optimal procurement solutions for the benefit of the community. Joining can help you identify new methods for cutting costs.
Your public entity needs to streamline its procurement function to make its operations efficient. Making the process cost-effective should be a priority, but you also need to ensure that you are getting value for your money by only buying high-quality products.
Cooperative purchasing for sourcing and procurement has these benefits and many more. Sourcewell connects you with hundreds of awarded contracts for vehicle fleets under this procurement method, and you do not need to pay any fees to participate. Make sourcing and procurement easy for your agency by registering with Sourcewell.
Here at Sourcewell, we help public agency buyers procure fleet vehicles faster by fulfilling the time-consuming bid process for them. Through cooperative contracts, we expedite the fleet vehicle procurement process so you can better serve your teams.
Want a faster procurement process? Contact one of our specialists today to buy the fleet solutions you need!