1. Background

Staff and Structure: This program began in approximately 1992 under the leadership and initiative of former Commissioner Peter Menard. The program is supervised by the County Commissioners. It is primarily administered by the Commissioners' staff. They provide all administrative support for the program, including (a) organizing and administering the bidding process in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, (b) addressing legal issues that may arise by working with the Commissioners and legal counsel, (c) answering phones, (d) drafting letters, (e) sending and receiving mail, (f) acting as liaison among the commissioners and the program clients (towns and cities), bidders, state regulators, and the service or product providers, and (g) providing all bookkeeping services.

Service: Through the Group Purchasing Program, the County manages and administers a bidding process in which towns, cities, and school districts may collectively purchase various services and supplies at a substantial discount from prevailing market rates. The savings varies depending upon the product or service and the year in which they are ordered, but it usually equals about a 20% discount. The products and services that currently may be purchased through such process include, but are not limited to, the following: heating oil, fuel oil, natural gas, motor fuels, road salt, asphalt products, street sweeping, catch basin cleaning, culvert building, guard rail materials and installation, line painting materials and services, and various pipe materials.

Managing and administering this program appears to be fairly complex. The program must be administered in compliance with a relatively elaborate set of state laws pertaining to: (a) selection of vendors, (b) determination of whether the vendors are sufficiently bonded and insured, (c) selection of entities that may purchase through the Group Purchasing Program, (d) determination of products that may be purchased through the program, (e) administration of the bidding process, (f) selection of winning vendors, (g) compliance with detailed criteria that must be met by winning bidders, (h) notification procedures, etc.

The program commences each March when the County Commissioners send out a notice to all towns, cities, and participating school districts requesting the extent to which each desires to participate. Once these entities make product requests, research is conducted by the Commissioners' staff regarding product specifications and participating vendors. Various products have different regulatory compliance criteria. Bid packages are created with respect to each product and bidding entity. Once this is complete, bids are requested and the elaborate state regulatory scheme pertaining to the program must be administered.

2. Actual Service Usage

Usage of the services provided by this program is relatively substantial. For example, in 1999 many towns ordered a significant number of different types of products through the program, as shown by the following table (this excludes the County and schools and school districts that participate to a significant extent, particularly with regard to fuel oil):

Number of Different Number of Different

Town 1999 Product Orders Town 1999 Product Orders

Adams 0 New Ashford 5

Alford 3 New Marlboro 7

Becket 11 N. Adams 8

Cheshire 8 Otis 5

Clarksburg 5 Peru 7

Dalton 5 Pittsfield 6

Egremont 3 Richmond 9

Florida 5 Sandisfield 0

Gt. Barrington 6 Savoy 6

Hancock 1 Sheffield 1

Hinsdale 0 Stockbridge 3

Lanesborough 6 Tyringham 0

Lee 9 Washington 8

Lenox 14 W. Stockbridge 1

Monterey 4 Williamstown 6

Mt. Wash. 0 Windsor 0

As the table shows, in 1999 twenty-six of the towns and cities participated in the program. In that year, these towns collectively ordered $1,795,129.00 of road supplies and services alone. Thus, considering the previously discussed 20% discount rate, those towns realized a collective savings of about $448,000.00 for road supplies and services.

In assessing service usage, it is also helpful to know that in the 1997 survey conducted by the Berkshire County Task Force nineteen of the thirty-two towns and cities indicated support for the Program. County records showed in 1997 that the same number participated in the program.

In addition to the above usage statistics, it should be noted that in 1999 seven Berkshire County School Districts, the Berkshire County Jail and Court House, and the Adams Fire District participated in the Group Purchasing Program. Also, it is noteworthy that this year the Group Purchasing program services actually began to extend beyond County boundaries into former Hampden County. Towns there have expressed interest in group purchases through Berkshire County because group purchasing is no longer provided to them as a result of the demise of Hampden County Government. The towns participating from outside Berkshire County are Granville, Montgomery, Russell, and Tolland.

3. Service Costs and Funding

Aside from the administrative and supervisory support provided by the Comissioners' staff and approximately $1,000.00 in expenses for mailings, notices, etc., this program is self-supporting. The cost of the in-kind contribution from the Commissioners' staff is very difficult to quantify. A reasonable estimate, however, of the time they spend per year performing the services described above equals 520 hours.

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