V.A.L.U.E. OF THE MONTH June 2010 7. How To Increase The Scope of Purchasing PurchTips - Edition # 202 April 20, 2010 By Charles Dominick, SPSM It's not uncommon for suppliers to charge different departments within the same organization different prices when they can get away with it. By having the purchasing department provide center-led oversight, the organization can have more assurance that all departments are benefiting from the organization's leveraged buying power. Submitted by: Robert Barwick City of West Allis What Justifies An Increase In Purchasing Scope? Getting more spend under a purchasing department's management is a common goal. Achieving it often requires using points like these to convince senior management to support a change… 1. Purchasing personnel are measured on their performance of purchasing processes. Other departments are measured on different contributions to the organization. Assigning purchasing responsibility to these other departments keeps them from spending time on their primary functions within the organization. 2. Purchasing personnel are trained in cost savings techniques like negotiation and strategic sourcing. Engineers, department heads, and other internal customers are typically not, which can lead to paying higher prices. 3. The purchasing department has savings-generating tools, such as eSourcing systems, at their disposal. Other departments do not. 4. The purchasing department is good at identifying alternatives, then guiding the organization to select the best option. Too often, internal customers just go with the first supplier found, committing the organization to a suboptimal arrangement that endures for years. 5. By working with all departments, the purchasing department is aware of enterprise-wide standards. As such, it can leverage aggregated volume for lower costs, minimize inventory, and avoid pitfalls previously identified with competing products. 6. Purchasing personnel are trained at evaluating supplier viability. Engineers, department heads, and other internal customers are not, which can result in the selection of a supplier that goes out of business during the course of the relationship. Stainless Steel Pipeline Repair Clamps The contract for Stainless Steel Repair Clamps has been extended for two years with PowerSeal Pipeline Products. Please go to the V.A.L.U.E. website for a price schedule and ordering information. Here is a list of those agencies that have participated in the V.A.L.U.E. Repair Clamp bid in the past few years. City of Brookfield Cedarburg Light & Water Fox Point Water Utility Grafton Water Dept. City of Milwaukee City of Port Washington Village of Shorewood City of Wauwatosa Brown Deer Water Utility Cudahy Water Utility City of Glendale Men Falls Water Dept. Oak Creek Water Racine Water & Wastewater Utilities Waukesha Water Utility City of West Allis Submitted by Robert Barwick City of West Allis True Cost of Energy Procurement Negotiating the Contract: Getting to Yes Pricing: $75 Members / $105 Non-Members Date and time: June 21, 2010- 12PM ET - 1:30 PM Presented by: Sharon Lewis, CPPB, VCO, A.P.P. Registration Deadline: June 16, 2010 There are several key points in the RFP and contracting process where negotiation is critical. Whenever you are negotiating, principled negotiation required that you invest 60% of the total time planning for the negotiation. This webinar focuses on how to be a well-prepared negotiator following the framework established in Getting to Yes which has been adopted by the UPPCC for the October 2010 certification exam. At the end of this introductory level Webinar, students will be able to: • Identify four principles of negotiating and describe how to plan for them. • Describe techniques of principled negotiating. • Identify common negotiation mistakes. Maximize Savings with Automated Payment Solutions: pCards, EFTs and ACH Transactions Pricing: $75 Members / $105 Non-Members Date and time: June 24, 2010 - 12 PM - 1:30 PM Presented by: Debbie Hamel Registration Deadline: June 21, 2010 Today, many agencies are being challenged to balance tight budgets while meeting growing demands on limited resources. Advanced technology and automation, combined with the best payment methods, enable agencies to maximize cost savings and to meet compliance requirements. Knowing the payment instruments available, the unique benefits of each method, and when to best leverage them will improve your agency’s strategy for success and savings. This session will focus on pCards, EFTs and Automated Clearing House (ACH) transactions. Upon successful completion of this Webinar participants will be able to: • Streamline AP processes by leveraging pCard, EFT and overall automated solutions guaranteed to save your agency money and improve the bottom-line. • Recognize when to use electronic payments, how to calculate costs and benefits and overcome common challenges. • Learn to overcome the challenges of assessing and buying AP technology. • Monitor and audit agency pCard and EFT transactions. • Advise the agency on strategy and tactics for the proper use of pCards and EFTs and how to proactively maintain compliance with policies and regulations. Pricing: $75 Members / $105 Non-Members Date and time: July 22, 2010 - 12 PM - 1:30 PM Presented by: Bob Wooten, Director of Strategic Solutions, Tradition Energy Registration Deadline: July 16, 2010 This Webinar will provide attendees with an understanding of the true cost of power and energy procurement best practices. In today’s climate of shrinking budgets and mandatory cutbacks, it is essential that governmental entities take advantage of every opportunity to control and lower overhead and operating costs. Energy represents a significant operating cost for many state and local governments. The increase in deregulation of electricity and natural gas markets nationwide creates a unique opportunity for any entity to seek and secure competitive supply of energy; resulting in contracts more specifically tailored to their needs and lowered costs for the actual energy commodity itself. During this webinar, attendees will learn the factors driving energy volatility and the best practices for managing commodity procurement. Upon successful completion of this Webinar participants will be able to: • Have a better understanding of energy volatility and how creating an energy procurement strategy will help control overall energy costs. • Know how to identify those energy markets that will allow development of a customized energy contract. • Be able to source a contract that fully meets the energy needs of your jurisdiction. To register by fax (download registration form), otherwise register online by selecting registration button. http://www.nigp.org/eweb/StartPage.aspx?Site=NIGP &webcode=pd-ep-wb-webinars LIBRARY COMPLIMENTARY Access to Aberdeen Group’s Research Library, The Vault, Expands NIGP Member Research Support. In collaboration with research partner, Aberdeen Group, NIGP is thrilled to provide its members complimentary access to the latest Aberdeen analysis, market-moving news and sector insights available from Aberdeen’s research library, The Vault. Access to The Vault, a $995 per user value, is available to NIGP members at no charge for 2 full years. Take advantage of this NIGP National Member-only benefit. Follow this link http://research.aberdeen.com/1/vault/nigp.html enter VIP Promotional Code 61437SZgSI and click “Validate Code.” About The Vault It’s 24x7 access to actionable, highly targeted research collateral along with links to Aberdeen’s entire active research repository of more than 6,500 documents, including: • Hundreds of Benchmark and Best Practices Reports • Business Value Research Analysis • Market Perspectives • Research Briefs • Sector Insights Research Categories: • Manufacturing • Supply Chain Managemen • Product Innovation & Engineering • Retail • Customer Management • Enterprise Resource Planning • Global Supply Management • Human Capital Management • Service Management • Information Technology As an NIGP Member, you also have exclusive access NIGP’s Resource Library with more than 10,000 customizable bid and RFP documents, templates, forms and research reports that save time and increase productivity. Maximize the value of your NIGP membership. Register for The Vault today. If you have any questions about NIGP’s newest memberonly offering, contact us at [email protected]. V.A.L.U.E. Monthly Planning Meeting Minutes Confiscated items used to have to be sold at auction on site with law enforcement personnel present. With this new bill these confiscated items can now be sold over the internet. II. Ongoing/Unfinished Business A. Update on disaster situations – Karen has completed and will forward to Dawn Gurda. 1. Feedback & review of 2010 annual meeting – Laurie informed the committee that she is working on the survey and hopes to get it out in the next couple of weeks. Robert to forward some free surveys she can use to complete this task. 2. Ideas for 2011 annual meeting a. Disaster planning preparation b. Future of Law Enforcement vehicles c. Follow up on green items d. Motivational speakers e. Webinar which will tie into our annual meeting timeframe (maybe NIGP speaker). Karen and Vera will be attending the NIGP forum in August and will come back with possible ideas f. Possibility of other locations for the meeting due to road construction i. Olympia - Oconomowoc ii. Double Tree – Brookfield iii. Lake Geneva iv. Waukesha B. Strategic planning - Robert shared that the updated brochure has been completed as well and the development of the new member packet and the new membership directly. Robert also shared that Door County is now a member of V.A.L.U.E. III. Bid Reports/Updates A. Review V.A.L.U.E. Contracts Listing for updates and discussion items – the current listing was reviewed. Karen to add copiers to the State of Wisconsin bids available for piggybacking. May 19, 2010 B. Attending: Robert Barwick, Roy Hartmann, Jean Kienzle, Jim Bembenek, Karen Bollinger, Winona Marshall, Vera Butts, Monique Jones, Erika Wendelberger, Nick Cramer, and Laurie Dudley I. Common Solutions Robert Barwick addressed the committee to see who is currently using Demand Star and how the system works. Karen Bollinger informed the committee that Demand Star will respond electronically and will tabulate the results for you. Demand Star is simply another avenue for posting bids other than Vendor Net. A question was brought up as to what members are using for the disposal of surplus property. Thomas Net – can do reverse auction and you can list smaller quantities. Wisconsin Surplus – private company to use for surplus equipment. The Governor just signed a bill for auctions from Propertyroom.com to now be open for piggybacking. New Bid Opportunities 1. Green Products Bid – Janitorial – Roy thought there was a state contract for this and he will check on. Also www.buyingbetter.org was given as a suggestion to buy green products from. IV. New Business A. Review of Committee Member Roles – it was recommended to remove “Ad Hoc Committee” or list the Planning Committee as member Items for next meeting – review sites online for video clips/scrolling news to possibly add to the VALUE website for current events or member benefits in lieu of current video. Laurie will forward several sites to Robert to review prior to the next meeting. Submitted by: Laurie Dudley School District of Waukesha