Question: Are there areas of Joint Procurement such as by purchasing supplies, food services, and professional consulting in direct collaboration with the City government where we could see savings-- and any estimate to the amount of savings? (Councilman Chapman)
Response:
It is possible that there can be joint procurement of some aspects of both ACPS and the city organization. While the size of each staff is currently geared towards the volume and type of workload for both organizations depending on the overlap of similar procurement activities there could be some opportunities for consolidation of workforce or the sharing of common procurements, like security contracts or maintenance functions that are contracted services.
The City’s Purchasing Office has 11 employees, including the Purchasing Agent, presently handling 970 active contracts. The School System has its own procurement office which includes 8 employees, including their Director of Procurement and General Services, presently handling approximately 400 contracts.
There is also the question about systems and system integration. The City uses MUNIS as its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, for purchase orders and contract solicitations. The City is presently engaged in launching front-end software (Euna Bonfire) intended to improve the efficiency and transparency of the City’s system. The Schools use MUNIS for purchase orders, but they do not use MUNIS for solicitations. They instead use the State’s eVA system. As such, system utilization would also need to be studied to determine the feasibility of consolidation.
The two organizations have the ability to collaborate and have done so in the past where feasible, particularly around architectural and engineering services on Capital Projects. However, a more in-depth review of procurement functions would be needed to fully evaluate opportunities for savings either in personnel or in join procurement of services.