Title
Chief Administrative Office, Procurement and Contracts Division, recommending the Board:
1) Authorize the Purchasing Agent to utilize the U.S. Communities Government Purchasing Alliance contract with Independent Stationers for the purchase of office supplies for use by departments on a County-wide basis in accordance with County Ordinance Chapter 3.12, Section 3.12.160 D;
2) Authorize the Purchasing Agent to issue a Blanket Purchase Order for an initial three year term plus extensions authorized under the agreement, for a total term not to exceed 5 years, in the amount of $300,000 to Independent Stationers;
3) Authorize the Purchasing Agent to increase the blanket purchase order through any extended term so long as funding is available within each requesting Department's budget; and
4) Authorize the Purchasing Agent to terminate Blanket Purchase Orders 291154 and 290693 with Unisource of Sacramento and Xpedex of Sacramento respectively for the purchase of copy paper, if deemed in the best interest of the County to do so.
FUNDING: General Fund and Non-General Fund.
Body
BUDGET SUMMARY: |
|
|
Total Estimated Cost |
Approx Annual Cost |
$300,000.00 |
|
|
|
Funding |
|
|
Budgeted |
$300,000.00 |
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New Funding |
$ |
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Savings |
$ |
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Other |
$ |
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Total Funding Available |
$300,000.00 |
|
Change To Net County Cost |
|
$ |
Fiscal Impact/Change to Net County Cost: No change in Net County Cost
Background: U.S. Communities is a nonprofit government purchasing cooperative that reduces the cost of goods and services for participating agencies by aggregating their purchasing power nationwide. Almost 3,400 agencies in California participate. U.S. Communities, through its host County of Los Angeles, issued a formal competitive solicitation for Office Supplies and related products to be made available for Public Agencies. In August of 2010, the County of Los Angeles awarded the contract to Independent Stationers. Independent Stationers is a dealer-owned buying cooperative. They have hundreds of independent office supply dealers serving locations across the United states. All orders will be processed through Independent Stationers; however, the independent dealer assigned to the County of El Dorado is Sierra Office Supply of Sacramento. The current contract is for a three (3) year term of September 1, 2010 through August 31, 2013 with an option to renew for two (2) additional one (1) year periods.
The contract offers online ordering with in-depth product information and reporting features, and fixed pricing on over 19,000 items for the first year. Any subsequent price increases may only be submitted once annually for approval at the sole discretion of the County of Los Angeles. Additionally, the contract offers next day delivery, as well as e-commerce and volume rebates.
Reason for Recommendation: The County is currently under contract with Office Depot for the purchase of office supply items. This contract expires and the end of December 2010. This contract could be extended through June 30, 2011; however, such an extension is not recommended because it is cumbersome to administer the contract due to system limitations of the vendor. Under the Independent Stationers contract, pricing would be fixed and easily audited, streamlining administration. In addition, taking advantage of the U.S. Communities/County of Los Angeles solication saves County staff time related to issuing its own solicitation. The County Procurement Policy requires a comparative market analysis be done to support utilization of another agency's solicitation and resulting contract. In researching this commodity, staff found that several other local public agencies utilize the U.S. Communities contract for office supplies, citing advantageous pricing and administrative efficiencies as the chief reasons for doing so. Staff has also sampled items from the County's current contract and compared them to pricing under the U.S. Communities solicitation and found pricing to be comparable.
The Procurement and Contracts Division is currently performing an analysis to determine if it is more economical to procure copy paper using the Independent Stationers' contract offering direct delivery to departments rather than using the current Central Stores location and staff for purchase and delivery. If the Purchasing Agent determines that it is more advantageous to the County to procure copy paper using the Independent Stationers' contract, then it is requested that authorization be given to the Purchasing Agent to terminate two separate existing contracts for the purchase of copy paper that were previously awarded by the Board.
Action to be taken following Board approval: The Procurement and Contracts Division will issue a blanket purchase order and work with Independent Stationers and its local dealer Sierra Office Supply of Sacramento to implement the transition of the office supply contract effective January 1, 2011.
Contact: Sue Hennike x5577
Concurrences: N/A