March 4, 2015 at 2:00 PM - Coop Committee Meeting

Discussion:  Call to order Staff: David Ludwig, Priscilla Quintana, Craig Peterson

Discussion:  Commitments/Beliefs: Enhance Cooperative Purchasing through effective statewide communication. Provide equitable statewide pricing for goods and services. Provide a user friendly sourcing and procurement system to meet the needs of member entities. Provide statewide and nationally leveraged contracts to it’s members. Savings realized by purchasing in quantity for present and future procurement needs. Action Plan: Increase the utilization of Coop negotiated contracts by all member entities by increasing communications to member key contacts. Increase membership of Coop by actively engaging non-participating schools and other public agencies when opportunities present themselves. Have a balanced budget by the 2018-19 year.

Discussion:  To meet this Goal Cooperative Purchasing staff have devised a plan to hold orders until the end of the order period then aggregate them by ship to location before releasing to each vendor. This goal was addressed when vendors voiced concerns of the previous years number of orders processed during our bidding and indicated some would not bid unless we aggregated orders.

Discussion:  To address some of the schools concerns about payment in the current budget year and wanting to pay vendors after the September 1 new budget year Interim Director Peterson has contacted legal council to discuss options. Legal council advises to beware of becoming a "bank" to schools. The committee discussed the possibility of moving schools to the Coop Extended Buy or year around AEPA/Special Buys, instead of "carrying" school financially.

Discussion:  Communication across the State is improving. Craig will be visiting each ESU in the near future.

Discussion:  Participation has been great. Trainings have also been recorded and are available on Coop's website.

Discussion:  Craig and the Coop staff continue to evaluate sourcing and procurement solutions.

Discussion:  Annual Buy order period began on February 23rd and will close on April 10th.

Discussion:  4th Quarter AEPA sales = $1,005,972.42 compared to $1,026,356.02 last year. 4th Quarter Special buy sales = $175,545.33 compared to $131,551.47 last year. Admin fees earned in 4th Quarter = $24,321.81

Discussion:  As you hear of building projects with in your school districts have them contact Craig or send an email to let him know about the project and he will contact the school to see if there is any way we can help save them locate currently vetted vendors and to save them dollars on the project.

Discussion:  The AEPA organization is also looking for a Sourcing solution and have reviewed three vendors. They will plan on making a decision sometime in April. Benefit of aligning to what AEPA is utilizing is both cost savings and possibly being able to leverage RFP's from other states.

Discussion:  The City of Waverly passed a Resolution on February 17th to enter into an Interlocal Agreement between the City of Waverly and ESUCC for the solicitation of public bids and enter into contracts on its own behalf and to purchase supplies, material, equipment, and services

Discussion:  Review of Financial Goals ESUCC will approve a balanced budget beginning the 2018-19 year. (3 years: $149,485 deficit) Evaluate the effectiveness of ESM and provide recommendations) for continuation of ESM or recommendation(s) of a different software provider by May 2015. Review, recommend and implement expanded opportunities for the Coop Purchasing Project.

Discussion:  Continuing to meet with ESM bi-weekly.