Jul 13, 2015
Earlier this year, we surveyed members to find out what purchasing opportunities you wanted us to pursue under the SUMAdvantage group purchasing program. We asked questions about your municipal annual spend, critical items to keep your operations running, and your suggested top five opportunities for us to consider. Thank you to all who responded; we received 111 responses to our survey which provided us with a good amount of data to analyze.
Once we ranked the order in which the opportunities would be pursued based on the survey responses, we consulted with the SUMA Program Development Advisory Committee to finalize the list. We also have noted the approximate quarter in which the opportunities will be undertaken.
Once we ranked the order in which the opportunities would be pursued based on the survey responses, we consulted with the SUMA Program Development Advisory Committee to finalize the list. We also have noted the approximate quarter in which the opportunities will be undertaken.
| Year | Quarter | Opportunity |
| 2015 | 2 | *Signage |
| 4 | Road Salt | |
| 4 | *Office Supplies | |
| 2016 | 1 | Maintenance, Repair, Operations (MRO) |
| 1 | Fire Equipment | |
| 1 | Chemicals | |
| 2 | *Natural Gas | |
| 3 | Vehicles | |
| 3 | Gravel | |
| 4 | *Janitorial | |
| 4 | Waste/Garbage/Recycling | |
| 2017 | 1 | Fuel |
| 1 | Paving | |
For each opportunity, we follow a request for proposal (RFP) process engaging the member municipalities in the process. We will do this through the SUMA Program Development Advisory Committee and the bid evaluation committee. The bid evaluation committee will be composed of those member municipalities that wish to participate in a particular RFP. We will call for participation at the start of each opportunity. Those on the bid evaluation committee can be a council member or from the administration who has knowledge in the subject area. You may notice that in the above list we have some programs already in place (noted with an *). These programs will go through the same process when it comes time to review them.
In order to keep focused and moving forward we are going to try to follow this list as closely as possible. However, if a need arises from the membership we are open to suggestions and will determine through SUMA Procurement Development Advisory Committee if it’s an urgent need or can be added to the future list of opportunities to pursue.
For more information on current SUMAdvantage, check the program page. Inquiries can be directed to Tania Meier, Director of Corporate Programs and Member Services at tmeier@suma.org or 306-525-4379.
