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NATIONAL IPA COOPERATIVE CONTRACT

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Melissa Denney, Purchasing Coordinator for the Greene County Highway Department, said using a National IPA cooperative contract to purchase four Cat^® 420F IT Backhoe Loaders saved the department time and money.

National IPA is a cooperative purchasing organization that reduces procurement costs by leveraging volume of participating agencies nationwide. All National IPA agreements are competitively solicited, publicly awarded, and administered by a public agency/governmental entity. By using the national cooperative contract awarded to Caterpillar, the highway department didn’t need to go out for a time-consuming formal bid, wait for the bids to come back and abstract the bids. “Using the national cooperative, I was able to work immediately from that National IPA contract with Caterpillar, jump right in there and make the purchase,” said Denney, who claimed to save a significant amount of time compared to the typical lengthy process.

Denney relates that Greene County saved “a substantial amount” and more than the other co-op contract they had been using to purchase Cat equipment. Because national cooperative contracts represent products in larger volumes than a single agency, the cost per unit is typically much less than the solicitation of bids by one agency.

And because participating agencies do not have to go through the formal bid process, they are able to order the machines quicker, the order is processed sooner, and the turnaround time and machine delivery is much faster than normal.

The National IPA cooperative contract for Caterpillar enables agencies to specify features and product size to meet their exact requirements, and to utilize local dealers to support and service their needs. “Our local National IPA representative helps us in any way she can to be sure all our bases are covered,” said Denney. “And our local dealer, Fabick Cat provides complete details for any machine modifications we need, since some of the contracts might be written for just the base machine.

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“I highly recommend the National IPA cooperative contract to other government entities,“ said Denney. “It’s so much easier and it saves time and money—and I’m all about saving money for my taxpayers—because I’m also a taxpayer!”

Denney was so pleased with the process that she plans to use the National IPA cooperative contract to purchase additional Cat equipment for the Greene County Highway Department during 2015.

The National IPA portfolio of cooperative agreements cover products as diverse as heavy equipment, refuse and recycling containers, office supplies, furniture, and digital copy machines.

Contact our dealership for more information or visit NationalIPA.org to learn how your agency can save time and money using National IPA cooperative agreements.

THE NATIONAL IPA COOPERATIVE CONTRACTING PROCESS:

All cooperative contracts available through National IPA have been competitively solicited and publicly awarded by a public agency/governmental entity (e.g. state, county, city, public university or school district).

The Lead Agency prepares a competitive solicitation, incorporating language to make the agreement accessible nationally to agencies in states that allow intergovernmental (piggyback) contract usage.
The Lead Agency issues the solicitation and any required amendments and notifications, and conducts pre-proposal conferences and meetings.
Interested suppliers respond to the solicitation.
The Lead Agency evaluates the responses, negotiates the final terms and conditions and ultimately awards the master agreement.
All documentation is posted on the National IPA website Nationalipa.org and made available to the public.

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