February 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 66
Operations
Streamline Purchasing
with Cooperatives
By Jennifer Sulentic
I
mplementing new projects can be difficult without the proper assets or
resources to move forward. It can be stressful to make improvements with
limited resources, budget and staff. As park and recreation agencies look
ahead and develop strategies for the year, it is beneficial to consider the
use of cooperative purchasing, an effective tool to help save time and money. In
an economic climate where parks are pushed to do more with less, cooperatives
can easily assist with purchasing needs.
What Is Cooperative Purchasing?
Cooperative purchasing combines
the collective buying power of multiple agencies in order to provide a
contract that can be utilized by other public agencies. A cooperative
contract can improve the overall
effectiveness of the purchasing process by providing volume discounts,
administrative savings and other
benefits. Some cooperatives operate
nationally and some locally, so it is
important to research each contract
individually.
Benefits of Cooperative Purchasing
The use of a cooperative ultimately reduces the total acquisition cost
through economies of scale. For
example, if you go to a car dealership to buy one car, the salesman
will bend over backwards to make
you feel like you got a great deal -
but the numbers may reveal that the
markdown won't save you as much
as you originally thought. Now, return to the car dealership to buy a
hundred cars, and the price for each
vehicle will go way down. You are
almost guaranteed a good deal simply because you have purchasing
power. The concept of cooperative
purchasing aims to place this power
in the hands of public agencies, nonprofits, school districts and more -
especially smaller agencies - to give
them a greater advantage.
Cooperative purchasing can also
increase an agency's administrative
efficiencies by eliminating the need
to go through a bid or RFP process.
It's no secret that the public sector
continues to deal with budget and
staffing issues - park and recreation agencies, especially, can find
themselves dealing with funding
concerns. A cooperative contract
is designed to help these agencies
receive competitively solicited pricing for goods and services as well
as save staff time and resources. It
is an impactful, user-friendly way to
achieve savings.
Cooperative Best Practice -
Lead Public Agency Model
Many different types of cooperatives exist, so it is important that
an agency perform due diligence
on each contract to ensure it meets
your state laws regarding intergovernmental purchasing. Some utilize
64 Parks & Recreation
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February 2016 - Parks & Recreation
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February 2016 - Parks & Recreation
February 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 1
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