What would you wish for? 

That’s a question my colleague Tim Hay and I began asking Oregon counties, cities, and special districts this spring. We’ve spoken with about 200 so far, asking questions including this: “If the State of Oregon could offer you any new price agreements with suppliers what would you like to see added?”

The answers often surprised us. About 30 percent of local procurement officials and staffs asked for new agreements that are already available as state contracts or through participating addendums on multi-state agreements. These included contracts for office supplies, furniture, car rentals, cleaning supplies, copiers, and more. 

OregonBuys Features 400+ Price Agreements

The State of Oregon has negotiated more than 400 price agreements that can be used by state agencies and by counties, cities, special districts, and nonprofits organizations that are members of the Oregon Cooperative Procurement Program (ORCPP). These blanket purchasing agreements are all available on the state’s new OregonBuys e-Procurement system. And they can save your communities thousands of dollars on hundreds of products and services. Here are just a few examples of what’s available:

  • Drone services
  • Fleet fuel
  • Personal protective equipment
  • Office, education, and business supplies
  • Organizational improvement and other consulting services
  • Software and hardware
  • Facilities maintenance, repair, and operations and ground maintenance 
  • Wireless services
  • Vehicles and fleet-related products
  • De-icing chemicals
  • Communications equipment

OregonBuys vs Other Cooperatives

In addition to saving your counties money, state price agreements can save countless hours of staff time creating Request for Proposals (RFPs), reviewing proposals, and negotiating individual agreements. And unlike other purchasing co-operatives, ORCPP offers you statewide contracts fully vetted by the state Department of Justice for compliance with Oregon’s public procurement code and local experts versed in those procurement requirements.

ORCPP members also have access to select national contracts through National Association of State Procurement Officials (NASPO) ValuePoint. These contracts offer attractive pricing and are available to ORCPP members through the participating addendums executed by the State of Oregon. 

Learn More

To learn more, meet with the ORCPP and OregonBuys team at the November conferences held by the Oregon Public Purchasing Association or the Association of Oregon Counties. If you would like help searching for statewide price agreements to see if you can save time and money on an upcoming procurement, OregonBuys can provide a personalized, private Zoom session to ensure your proficiency with OregonBuys. Oregon counties that are members of the ORCPP can use OregonBuys at no charge. Simply contact Tim Hay, local government account manager, at THay@PeriscopeHoldings.com. 

Contributed by: Kevin Renner General Manager of the OregonBuys Program for Periscope Holdings