Cooperative Purchasing group opens bidding for RFPs

Cooperative purchasing agency, Choice Facility Partners, has opened the bidding for four commodity areas, Elevators, Equipment, Services and Related Items; HVAC Equipment, installation, Service and Related Items; Job Order Contracting Services; and Signage, Installation and Related Items. Bids are due May 21. Following evaluation of the proposals, a recommendation will be made for an award in these areas, which then opens the door for these cooperative purchasing contracts to be used by members.

Members can be school districts, colleges and universities, counties, cities, and hospitals or any governmental entity that has signed an interlocal agreement. Members can be assured that the Choice Facility Partners’ cooperative purchasing contracts are legal and competitively pre-bid.

            For more information about cooperative purchasing and the Choice Facility Partners' vendor partners, go to the web site- http://www.choicefacilitypartners.org.

            Two member organizations recently used the cooperative purchasing solution through Choice Facility Partners and selected Granicus, Inc. for government webcasting and public meeting management technology. Fort Worth ISD and Mansfield ISD used the Choice Facility Partners cooperative purchasing contract with Granicus for webcasting, minutes annotation and board voting solutions.

            The Granicus’ solution tightly integrates with board meeting processes and enables schools to maximize community outreach to capture, store, manage, and distribute live and on-demand webcasting content, facilitating access to governing meetings, educational programming, press conferences, speeches, or eLearning opportunities.

Some of the benefits of cooperative purchasing through Choice Facility Partners includes taking advantage of the work that has already been done, such as

Researching criteria for the bid,

Writing the bid specifications,

Advertising the RFP,

Evaluating the proposals,

Interviewing firms, if appropriate,

Recommending an award, and

Governing board approves contract.

           Choice Facility Partners focuses on meeting facility needs through their many cooperative purchasing contracts. Using Choice Facility Partners’ cooperative purchasing contracts provide a quick solution to solve building and facility issues. Cooperative purchasing contracts include construction-related Job Order Contracting, modular buildings, building forensics, capital program management and software, energy purchase either directly or through aggregation, energy conservation, owners’ representative/project control services, building envelope assessment and roofing solutions, security systems, elevator maintenance, and technology for public meeting management and government webcasting.

            More information about the purchasing cooperative can be found at http://choicefacilitypartners.org/html/questions.php.

            Other benefits from Choice Facility Partners include such offerings as the upcoming stimulus package workshop for school district facility and finance staff on May 18 in San Antonio. This cooperative purchasing workshop will provide new thinking for how to reinvent and renovate when space is tight and bond financing is not available. BUILDING RELIEF: Financing and Facility Solutions for Shovel-Ready Projects will be from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., May 18, at San Antonio ISD’s Cooper Learning Center. The cooperative purchasing workshop will feature Jesus J. Amezcua, CPA, HCDE Assistant Superintendent for Business Support Services, Gary B. Marek, REFP, Director of School Facilities, State Funding Division, Texas Education Agency, and Allen Henderson Job Order Contracting expert and author.

            This cooperative purchasing workshop is sponsored by Choice Facility Partners and cooperative purchasing resource partners GroundFORCE and Johnson Controls, Inc.

Lunch and three Continuing Education Units will be provided to attendees. To RSVP, contact joann@choicefacilitypartners.org or call 713-696-2122.

For more information about this cooperative purchasing option, contact 713-696-2122 or go to www.choicefacilitypartners.org