By Thomas B. Blanco

The Joint Purchasing program in effect the past thirteen months has resulted in documented savings of $258,311 to 82 governmental units who have participated with the state in the program. The program is growing much faster and producing savings in greater amounts than anyone had anticipated.

Possible savings on office machines are not included because we do not have sufficient data to make a realistic estimate. The dollar savings do not reflect the reduction in administrative costs that would have been incurred by governmental agencies in taking bids, preparing specifications and evaluating bids. The savings during the past six months have increased by almost $200,000.

There are now 452 governmental units on the State mailing list who receive information pertaining to the program as it is released by the Division of Procurement, Department of General Services. This represents an increase of 281 over the last six months.

The breakdown consists of 122 Cities, 160 Villages, 117 School Districts, 39 Counties and 16 other governmental units, including park districts, sanitary districts, and other elected officials. Six months ago there were only 23 governmental units who participated in the state contracts; as of March 1st, 82 governmental units had participated. The volume of purchases totalled $817,645, an increase of $569,000 over the period six months ago.

New Approach to Purchasing
Governor Richard B. Ogilvie states that this is a new approach to the problem of how to secure for public agencies, particularly the smaller ones, some of the advantages of volume purchasing, which can be of great importance in a day of rapidly growing population and governmental functions, coupled with a scarcity of fiscal resources. Governor Ogilvie also points out that the state has no plan to ever pass the cost of operation of the Illinois program to local governments. He says it is important to note that the State does not operate a warehouse. The political sub-divisions order from the vendors who are successful in getting the state contracts and pay the vendors directly. The State of Illinois is not in the business of competing with private enterprise and does not sell to the other governmental units.

Frank Resnik, Acting Director of the Department of General Services, advises that there are now 23 open end contracts in existence which permit governmental units to purchase their requirements without submitting requisitions estimating their needs. These contracts are:

Other items that have been purchased not covered by open end contracts, but requiring requisitions from governmental units showing fixed quantities, include highway salt, passenger cars, police cars, trucks and food.

Plans are underway to enter into annual contracts covering office furniture such as desks, chairs and tables. It is hoped that these contracts can be extended to other governmental units prior to June 1st.

The Procurement Division is planning a one day workshop on purchasing to be held under the sponsorship of the Illinois Municipal League. The meeting will be held in Springfield in the near future and will cover various aspects of purchasing. All governmental units in the state will be welcome to attend.

Governmental units interested in learning more about the Joint Purchasing program are invited to contact the Procurement Division, Department of General Services, 801 State Office Building, Springfield, Illinois 62706.

Thomas B. Blanco is State Purchasing Agent for the State of Illinois.

Illinois Parks and Recreation    16    May/June, 1971