The Maryland Municipal League has joined the National League of Cities, the National Association of Counties, the United States Conference of Mayors and the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing as a statewide sponsor of the US Communities Government Purchasing Alliance (GPA).

Cooperative purchasing, which combines the buying power of distinct groups of purchasers, is not a new concept. Local governments have been joining buying cooperatives for decades. Usually, these cooperatives take the form of a regional buying group or a product-specific buying group. Regional groups often buy fuel, automobiles or regional services together. Product-specific groups might include hospitals or health clinics. A few groups offer cities the opportunity to piggyback on national contracts for office supplies, computers, furniture, general and electrical supplies, and other common consumable items used by all governments.

Cooperative purchasing groups provide a number of advantages for most cities/towns. Because a bid is completed by one agency on behalf of many agencies, the time and cost of bidding is substantially reduced for the group members. Significant pricing discounts can be achieved through this group effort, as manufacturers and suppliers recognize the volume sales the group represents. Since the vendors do not have to re-bid the contract in each jurisdiction, they can factor in savings on the product offers that would have gone into staff resources used to respond to bids.

A cooperative can demand more than pricing considerations. For example, enhancements like free delivery, guaranteed fill rates, performance requirements and volume incentives can be included in the contract. To the extent that vendors are capable of providing electronic ordering and fulfillment systems, cities and towns can receive incentives for using electronic ordering. Cities/towns may also be able to reduce or eliminate their warehousing systems, as just-in-time buying assures that the vendor is providing the warehousing function and the guaranteed delivery of products.

This cooperative, called the US Communities Government Purchasing Alliance, provides contracts for office supplies, furniture, computers and peripherals, electrical and general supplies. Each contract is bid by a large local government on behalf of all local and state governments in the nation. The pricing discounts, delivery and service conditions, and the contract terms are available to any local government that is allowed by local law to piggyback on a national contract. Since all contracts are discretionary, local governments determine how much they want to use the program. The program has no membership fees or charges to the city/town.

Since 1997, the Government Purchasing Alliance has saved over $100 million for local governments. Over 7,000 cities, counties, schools and special districts use the program on a regular basis, saving from 15-70% on goods and services. The program steering committee is composed of city, county and school purchasing agents from across the nation and the program is managed by US Communities, an instrumentality of government formed for the purpose of supplying these services.

In 2001, Fairfax County, Virginia reported savings in excess of $1.5 million over a three-year period on office supplies. Large and small cities have also reported significant savings on computers, software and office products.

For more information on the Government Purchasing Alliance, contact U.S. Communities at 800-635-3993 or visit www.uscommunities.org for vendor contact information or contact the MML office at 410-268-5514 or 800-492-7121.

The Advisory Committee is composed of public purchasing managers of cities, counties and school districts. The Alliance goes out to bid on behalf of all local governments providing oversight and day-to-day policy review for the programs.