February 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 67

a lead public agency model (LPA)
in which a government entity handles some part of the solicitation
process. Cooperatives, such as
U.S. Communities, that use a LPA
for the entire solicitation process
are the model for cooperative best
practices. The LPA issues the RFP
or ITB, advertises it nationally and
regionally, and makes use of a national evaluation team (made up of
public procurement officials from
two to five public agencies across
the country) to give the award. The
LPA then manages various aspects
of the contract, such as extensions
and amendments, and stays available for questions about the solicitation from users. Although each
agency may have different purchasing procedures to follow, applying
the competitive bid requirements
of an LPA usually satisfies these requirements for most state and local
government agencies. While users
ultimately make the final call in
which contracts to use, lead agencies have years of purchasing expertise that brings credibility and
confidence to the process.
What to Consider When Choosing
a Cooperative Contract
Cooperative purchasing can and
will be an effective addition to your
toolbox of cost-saving measures. A
few additional questions to consider
include the following: Is the procurement process offered substantially
similar to the process your park and
recreation agency is required to use?
Does the cooperative organization
have independent and broad oversight of the program and its operations? Does the supplier have multiple cooperative contracts, and if so,
which is best? Does the cooperative
provide third-party oversight, or au

When Should an Agency Use a
Cooperative Contract?
James Foley, deputy chief procurement officer in Maricopa County, Arizona, recently
addressed this question. His agency's goal is to maximize the county's buying power,
and he explains that even though Maricopa is the fourth largest county in the United
States, " We can't get a better deal, say on office supplies, than some of these larger
coop organizations. Sometimes it works for us to make purchases through cooperative buys. "
Foley said speed is the primary reason to use coops. " The coops are already out
there, and they are ready to go as opposed to us trying to develop our own solicitation process on specific products. " In cooperation with the Arizona Capitol Chapter
of NIGP (AZNIGP), Foley's agency has developed a cooperative purchasing checklist.
A few of the questions include:
* Will volume-pricing advantages be applied to purchases?
* Are there any fees associated with use of the contract? Are they reasonable and
justified?
* Did the cooperative or lead agency have the expertise of quality contracting for
the good or service being procured?
" We go through the checklist each time we want to use a coop, " he says. " Before
you do the RFP or transaction, you need to do your due-diligence. There are many
coops out there - which one meets your needs? " The checklist, one resource when
completing the due diligence process, can be found by visiting www.procuresource.
com and under the Helpful Links section, selecting Due Diligence.
Source: Government Product News, December 7, 2015 (http://americancityand
county.com/coop-solutions/when-use-cooperatives)

dits, to ensure contract compliance?
To help address these questions,
search the Internet for sites such as
www.procuresource.com, a free directory of the key cooperative programs that can provide documentation and help streamline the process
of identifying the cooperative contracts that will work for your agency.

Armed with this awareness, park and
recreation agencies can make good
use of their time and money in 2016,
and beyond. Be sure to consider taking advantage from this centennial to
the next!
Jennifer Sulentic is a Program Manager at
U.S. Communities (jsulentic@uscommunities.
org).

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February 2016 - Parks & Recreation

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