Cooperative Purchasing vendors participate at M&O conferences

Cooperative purchasing vendor partners with Choice Facility Partners supported Maintenance and Operations groups, attending summer conferences and providing information for attendees with workshops and vendor exhibit booths.

At the South Texas Maintenance & Operations conference, Dan Cantu developed a program with sessions on Building Roof Maintenance and Warranties, Leadership, Best Practices for Grounds Maintenance and Utilities Management, and Technologies to Control Humidity. The keynote speaker was Cesar Maldonado, Ph.D., president of Texas State Technical College in Harlingen, and secretary of the Harlingen CISD board of trustees. (Several Texas State Technical College locations are members of Choice Facility Partners, and can take advantage of the legally procured and awarded cooperative purchasing contracts).

Dr. Cesar Maldonado noted that education buildings have a long life span with some buildings “historic monuments,” which creates a challenge, especially as needs change and the facility is altered.  “Changing one part of a building may be affecting multiple other things,” he said.

Solutions to facility issues can be found through cooperative purchasing contracts with Choice Facility Partners.
 

“The responsibility and knowledge base of what you have to know is extremely challenging,” said Dr. Maldonado. “One of the challenges is dealing with building elements that don’t want to get along.”  He gave an example of buildings with dissimilar elements, such as granite next to mortar.

But he emphasized the importance of education to economic growth and stability. “School districts are the economic engines of our community,” Dr. Maldonado said. “They are the biggest employers with the biggest budgets.”

School districts can benefit by working with Choice Facility Partners, a cooperative purchasing organization available to governmental organizations when they sign a government-to-government interlocal contract.

Travis Jones with Armko provided the workshop on Building Roof Maintenance and Warranties. Armko can provide services using their cooperative purchasing contract through Choice Facility Partners.

Oscar Herrera, 26-year veteran of the Mission ISD maintenance department, was recognized as the 2011 Maintenance Employee of the Year during the conference.

Six of the 11 exhibitors have contracts available through Choice Facility Partners, a facility services cooperative purchasing organization: Alpha Building Corporation, Armko, Automated Logic, Hunt and Associates,Hydrostop, and TF Harper & Associates. Choice Facility Partners offers many cooperative purchasing contracts for maintenance and operations.

Hill Country M&O

At the Hill Country M&O conference in July, Don May developed the program with presenters on playground maintenance and safety, custodial care, lead regulations and HVAC innovations. Louise Henry, HCDE marketing and client development officer, opened the conference with a message of encouragement, from the book FISH.

Tommy Harper of TF Harper, a company with a cooperative purchasing contract with Choice Facility Partners contract for Job Order Contracting and Playgrounds, spoke about playground maintenance and safety.

Joe Koch, Buckeye Cleaning Center-San Antonio, presented the custodial care workshop; solutions from Buckeye Cleaning can be accessed through a cooperative purchasing contract with another of the HCDE procurement cooperatives, the HCDE Purchasing Cooperative. 

Exhibitors at the conference included Choice Facility Partners cooperative purchasing vendor partners  Advanced Filtration Systems, Automated Logic, Corporate Facilities Management, HydroStop, and TF Harper.