https://www.americancityandcounty.com/wp-content/themes/acc_child/assets/images/logo/footer-logo.png
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcast
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Events
    • How to Contribute
    • Municipal Cost Index – Archive
    • Equipment Watch Page
    • American City & County Awards
  • Magazine
    • Back
    • Digital Editions
    • Reprints & Reuse
    • Advertise
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Statement
    • Terms of Service
American City and County
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcasts
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Events
    • How to Contribute
    • American City & County Awards
    • Municipal Cost Index
    • Equipment Watch Page
  • Magazine
    • Back
    • Digital Editions
    • Reprints & Reuse
    • Subscribe to GovPro
    • Manage GovPro Subscription
    • Advertise
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Cookie Policy
    • Privacy Stament
    • Terms of Service
  • newsletter
  • Administration
  • Economy & Finance
  • Procurement
  • Public Safety
  • Public Works & Utilities
  • Smart Cities & Technology
acc.com

Co-op Solutions


Photo courtesy of Pixabay

News

Tennessee purchasing crew fine-tunes its pandemic response

Tennessee purchasing crew fine-tunes its pandemic response

  • Written by Michael Keating
  • 3rd February 2021

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the two-person procurement team at Knoxville’s (Tenn.) Community Development Corp. (KCDC) leaped into action, says Terry McKee, IT and procurement director. “We immediately began seeking personal protective equipment (PPE) and supplies, which is not something that we have needed much of in the past. We also became the one open office at our entity so that the mail and supplies could be delivered while virtually all other employees worked remotely.” McKee says half of the procurement team began working from home to provide social distancing. “This caused some growing pains but has worked very well,” he adds.

McKee says dealing with the pandemic is a work in progress. “We are still ‘triaging’ procurement needs in order to meet the demands on our time. For example, we have extended several contracts that were set to expire simply to give ourselves more time to handle them.” The department began holding pre-bid meetings solely by Zoom video conferencing; it also began holding bid openings by Zoom only. In addition, it began to only accept emailed bids. “We wrote an Emergency Procurement Procedures policy to comply with our governor’s Emergency Orders, which allowed us to not accept bids in person, to not conduct in-person bid openings and other activities,” McKee explains.

KCDC is the public housing authority for Knoxville and Knox County, Tenn. It manages and rents more than 3,700 units across more than 20 properties and manages the application process and distribution of 4,000 Section 8 vouchers. KCDC also serves as the redevelopment agency for Knoxville and fosters economic development through approving tax credits and incentives for new businesses looking to locate in the area.

McKee says cooperative purchasing agreements are potential time- and money-savers. “For smaller entities, including mine, one of the major benefits is the ability to leverage the volume of a larger agency and thus reduce per-unit costs. While we often think of national or regional co-ops, governments also need to look locally to find opportunities to jointly bid goods/services with other local entities.”

Procurement officials, however, need to do their due diligence, McKee cautions. “A procurement professional must evaluate the cooperative agreement to ascertain if it meets the entity’s legal needs and is eligible for usage. Additionally, the procurement professional must then determine if the cooperative contract actually is cost-attractive and the best solution for the entity.”

McKee says government procurement departments need to explore a variety of tools and techniques to become more efficient. These can include using automation (online bidding, emailing requisitions, posting results, RFP evaluation software, etc.) to only accepting questions via email or web portal. “An entity must examine its acquisition thresholds and, if allowed by elected officials, raise them to a realistic level.” Procurement teams, McKee adds, should consider hiring a consultant to look at the procurement operation for ways to improve efficiency and effectiveness. He says NIGP’s consulting program could be a good place to start.

McKee says the use of systems contracts (a form of strategic procurement) may boost efficiencies in buying operations. Systems contracts, which are often also called “term bids,” “requirements contracts” and “IDIQs” (indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity), are used to meet repetitive needs for equivalent goods or services at a government over a period of time (usually annually). Some types of goods and services bought through systems contracts include office supplies, MRO supplies, temporary labor and mowing services. McKee points to several advantages for using systems contracts. These include the ability to leverage the entity’s buying volume to drive costs down. Through the contracts, the department may be able to reduce the number of vendors that staffers need to deal with. The contracts may also simplify ordering.

McKee believes lean-staffed government procurement departments are facing bigger workloads. “Indeed, they are, since over the last few decades, generally across the nation, procurement staffs have been reduced with ever tighter budgets.” He says technology has provided some offsetting efficiencies. “Additionally, many entities have delegated more ordering against established contracts and low-dollar-value direct purchasing by the user departments.”

He predicts government procurement departments’ staffing and budgets will shrink in the coming year. “My guess is that in most entities, they are contracting due to the general uncertainty and decreased revenue. Fortunately for me, my budget stayed steady for our fiscal-year 2021, which began on July 1, 2020. This is yet another challenge for procurement professionals.”

Michael Keating is senior editor for American City & County. Contact: [email protected]

Tags: homepage-featured-1 News Procurement Co-op Solutions News Procurement News

Related


  • Local governments in Texas respond to cold snap, power grid failure
    As many Texans remain without power due to an ongoing cold snap in the state, local governments are taking varied measures to try to help their communities where they can. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which controls most of Texas’s power, said on Friday that it has returned to normal operating conditions, CNBC […]
  • Cooperative agreements and other tools can help lean-staffed procurement squads
    In 2021, county budgets are fairly tight, says John D. Tigert, purchasing services manager in Dorchester County, S.C.“Procurement budgets are largely staying the same, with outliers of course, depending on how the organization collects revenue and to what degree that revenue collection was impacted by COVID-19. Most procurement departments tend to run a very lean […]
  • Chicago becomes first city to use free COVID-19 vaccine scheduling tool for cities and states
    A new tool that streamlines finding real-time COVID-19 vaccine appointments and booking them is available free of charge for any city, state and large care organization to implement. Chicago is the first city to implement the tool, known as the Zocdoc Vaccine Scheduler, according to a news release. In Chicago, the vaccine scheduler aggregates data […]
  • New American City & County survey identifies biggest problems facing public procurement departments in pandemic
    A new, ongoing public procurement survey from American City & County and Bonfire shows that over half of surveyed procurement departments are struggling with their supply chains during the pandemic. So far, 66.67 percent of respondents have said that navigating supply chain shortages was a point of strain in their procurement processes in the pandemic. […]

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your American City and County account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • Despite budget squeeze, state and local governments must shore up cyber posture
  • BhamStrong delivers long-term solutions in uncertain times
  • Facing state crackdown on indoor dining, Detroit extends outdoor dining program
  • Biden declared winner, promises to unify country

Twitter


AmerCityCounty

ASCE releases 2021 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure dlvr.it/Rtvck5

3rd March 2021
AmerCityCounty

Updating the assessor report: A new approach dlvr.it/RttvDv

3rd March 2021
AmerCityCounty

2020 Crown Communities winner: Phases 2 and 3 of Minot, N.D.’s Mouse River Enhanced Flood Protection Plan dlvr.it/RtrWMC

3rd March 2021
AmerCityCounty

Rethinking worker’s compensation with alternative dispute resolution dlvr.it/RtqmMx

2nd March 2021
AmerCityCounty

2020 Crown Communities winner: Harris County, Texas, Precinct 2’s ACCESS2HEALTH SmartPod dlvr.it/Rtm06B

1st March 2021
AmerCityCounty

How technology can ensure equitable access to the COVID-19 vaccine dlvr.it/RtlLNC

1st March 2021
AmerCityCounty

American City & County’s 2020 Exemplary Public Servant of the Year Award dlvr.it/RtZbX2

26th February 2021
AmerCityCounty

American City & County’s 2020 Crown Communities Awards dlvr.it/RtZbVz

26th February 2021

Newsletters

Sign up for American City & County’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about local governments.

Resale Insights Dashboard

The Resale Insights Dashboard provides model-level data for the entire used equipment market to help you save time and money.

Municipal Cost Index

Updated monthly since 1978, our exclusive Municipal Cost Index shows the effects of inflation on the cost of providing municipal services

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital audience? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • IWCE’s Urgent Communications
  • IWCE Expo

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us

FOLLOW American City and County ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookies Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2021 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X