Heather M. Hall, C.P.M., CPPB, VCO, CSMM Director of Purchasing, Montgomery County VA Government 37 th Annual NAOSMM Conference & Trade Show Norfolk,

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1 Heather M. Hall, C.P.M., CPPB, VCO, CSMM Director of Purchasing, Montgomery County VA Government 37 th Annual NAOSMM Conference & Trade Show Norfolk, VA July 29, 2010

2 Director of Purchasing for County Government Previous buyer at Virginia Tech Stockroom Manager of Chemistry Department Stockroom at Virginia Tech Lifetime CSMM Certification Committee Chair Attended NAOSMM conferences from 1993 to Manager of the Year Strong affinity for NAOSMM group

3 Know who the end users are and make sure they or a representative for them participate on the review committee. This gets their buy in for the project. Are there other agencies/departments that can benefit from this contract? Does anyone else already have this contract established? If so, does it have an additional users or piggyback clause? If no, then gather as much background information as possible on the end users.

4 Establish your Statement of Need. Develop specific requirements that you want the Offerors to respond to in their proposals. Outline the evaluation criteria and the weights assigned to these criteria. Schedule a pre-proposal date that all committee members can be in attendance. Identify a contact administrator within the user community. Outline the expected time frame of the contract including any expected renewals.

5 Be sure to include any special terms and conditions that might apply to this specific solicitation. Outline by attachments, any drawings or clarifications that would add to what you have already presented in your background, statement of need and specific requirements.

6 Due to the mass shooting on Virginia Tech s campus on April 16, 2007, ( )a New River Valley 911 Public Safety Emergency Communications Center is being developed for all agencies in the New River Valley to have dispatch located in one central place. We hired a consultant to help us create the Regional Authority. Montgomery County s Sheriff Office, Town of Christiansburg Police, Town of Blacksburg Police and Virginia Tech Police Departments are all participating in this effort. Radford City and Radford University may join the group at a later date.

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13 We are Virginia Tech. We are sad today, and we will be sad for quite a while. We are not moving on, we are embracing our mourning. We are Virginia Tech. We are strong enough to stand tall tearlessly, we are brave enough to bend to cry, and we are sad enough to know that we must laugh again. We are Virginia Tech. We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did nothing to deserve it, but neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS, neither do the invisible children walking the night away to avoid being captured by the rogue army, neither does the baby elephant watching his community being devastated for ivory, neither does the Mexican child looking for fresh water, neither does the Appalachian infant killed in the middle of the night in his crib in the home his father built with his own hands being run over by a boulder because the land was destabilized. No one deserves a tragedy. We are Virginia Tech. The Hokie Nation embraces our own and reaches out with open heart and hands to those who offer their hearts and minds. We are strong, and brave, and innocent, and unafraid. We are better than we think and not quite what we want to be. We are alive to the imaginations and the possibilities. We will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears and through all our sadness. We are the Hokies. We will prevail. We will prevail. We will prevail. We are Virginia Tech. -Nikki Giovanni 2007

14 Identify the players and have a representative. MC, TOB, TOC and VT each have a rep on the committee. This is know as the Executive Committee in this example. They each look to the Working group for input on the decision. Look for other entities. The City of Radford and Radford University are in close proximity to Montgomery County. City of Charlottesville, County of Albemarle have a regional 911 center established. We invited their director to sit in on the negotiations with the finalists to help us in our decisions. University of Virginia is in Charlottesville.

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16 Background information the more the better the responses. Statement of Need try to cover all boundaries that you know. Specific requirements should reflect the statement of need to some degree. You can ask the Offeror to respond to whatever you want. If they don t answer or not to your satisfaction, this is a negotiation point.

17 Evaluation criteria and weights Pre-proposal and its usefulness Contract Administrator identified Specific time frame for the contract. This can be a negotiated point, but you need to give the offeror the best guess you can from the start to have somewhere to negotiate from. For our example, special terms and conditions were limited. You might have more in a construction situation.

18 Attachments in this case were the overall view of who was participating from the Owner side.

19 Our example was released to the street on June 22, 2009 and originally was due August 12, By addendum, we changed the due date to August 19, 2009 to allow for enough time for review of a feasibility study performed by another consultant. That was release on July 23, Pre-proposal took place on July 15, Questions were taken from the Vendor community during this time.

20 Receive proposals and open on date and time established. Read aloud the names of the companies that submitted, did they submit and original copy and did they submit the number of copies asked for? That is all the public info we allow until the contract is signed. Disperse copies of the proposals to each committee member with scoring instructions. Schedule a date for committee to come together and discuss.

21 There may be a first round scoring to get down to a reasonable amount of companies to negotiate with. Typically want to negotiate with 2-4. You can bring companies in for face to face negotiation or you can do it by fax. After negotiations, and this can be as many times as needed, another scoring takes place and the final company is chosen. There maybe a few wrap up negotiations at this point.

22 The committee met on September 4, 2009 to discuss the proposals and do a first round scoring to narrow the field to 4 companies to bring in for negotiations. We received 11 proposals. Sept 30, 2009, 4 companies came to the Inn at VT to present to the Executive Committee. After these sessions, one company rose to the top of the stack. We brought that company back in for more negotiations October 22, We negotiated through the needs of the Executive committee and a second scoring took place on the remaining 4 Contractors. A contract was awarded to RCC Consultants on November 16, 2009.

23 For our example, we had very clearly defined deliverables associated with a specific cost. The Contractor would only get paid that line item amount once the entire deliverable was complete. It is up to the Contract Administrator to decide fi the deliverable is fully completed.

24 The following cost breakdown is provided by phase and program : Phase I Task Description Cost Governance Model $21,638 Concept Design $50,000 Technology Plan $39,362 Sub-Total Phase I $111,000 Phase II Operations and Staffing $47,060 Policies and Procedures $14,482 Transition Plan $12,858 Sub-Total Phase II $74,400 Total Project Cost $185,400

25 Once all negotiations are final, all the contract documents are compiled and made a part of the final contract. We incorporate the RFP, the Offeror s response and all negotiations with the Offeror into our contract document which is signed by our County Attorney first, then the company and then our County Administrator. From the start of the project until completion is now in the hands of the Contract Administrator

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27 Be sure that established deadlines are being met Items that are to be delivered are delivered on time and are the correct items. Report any discrepencies as soon as possible to your procurement person. If we don t know about it as it is happening, it makes it very difficult for us to step in at the end when it is really bad.

28 Checks should correspond to each deliverable as finished. If partial deliverables being paid for, this should be noted on the accounts payable. Final check should not be drawn until all deliverables are verified and signed off upon.

29 In 1999, a campus wide gas cylinder contract for Virginia Tech. Members on the committee were from 9 of the largest user departments on campus. It was not a unanimous decision on the award, but 8 of the 9 agreed on the top vendor. Over 100 stops on campus for gas cylinder deliveries. Co-op contract from the get go. UVA hopped on during negotiations.

30 Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Vet School, Environmental Health and Safety, Civil and Environmental Engineering, BioChemistry, Dining Hall, Physics and Mechanical Engineering representatives served on the committee. This was an entire campus wide contract. While not exclusively mandatory, this contract was highly recommended as the campus first source. Removal of previous companies tanks was a negotiated point.

31 100 campus buildings 2300 compressed gas cylinders in inventory Deliveries Monday, Wednesday and Friday Looking for a barcode tracking system to keep track of the cylinders at all times. Invoicing would be to each separate department. Reports to VT Purchasing about usage, tanks in possession, lost tanks. Winner to either buy current cylinders or facilitate removal with current company.

32 Buyback of inventory at the end of the contract. Any major acquisitions of the company. Account administrator locally. Volume discounts Contract length discount Replacement of lost cylinders Cylinder Inventory Safety issues

33 1. Invoicing 35 A. Price and Price Firmness 20 B. Discounts 10 C. Ability to invoice in multiple fashions 5 2. Management Capabilities 30 A. Implementation capabilities 10 B. Account Administration 10 C. References Inventory Plan Safety Issues 15

34 RFP issued April 15, 1999 Optional pre-proposal May 4, 1999 Received proposals on May 25, 1999 Several negotiation sessions took place from June August. Contract awarded August 30, 1999 Contract began October 1, 1999 Initial contract was for 2 years

35 What assurances they could give us that we would see implementation rapidly. We told them we expected 80% of departments transitioned within 30 days and the remaining 20% within six weeks of initial implementation. Ability to certify tanks that are on campus currently or those that remain on campus for longer than 5 years. Identify the highest level of management who is committed to the success of this contract. They gave us the president and his phone number, plus a letter from him stating his company s dedication to the contract. He also came for negotiations face to face.

36 VT entered into a two-year contract and had volume discounts outlined as follows: $100,000-$250,000 annual purchases, 2% discount $250,000-$500,000 annual purchases, 4% discount They agreed to apply these to the individual department accounts so the larger users would get credit. They offered greater discounts for longer term length, but the committee did not want to commit to longer than 2 years given this was a brand new company to the campus community. Holox committed to helping VT recycle the cylinders rather than dispose of them.

37 They set up an internet site for our end users to order the specialty gases that were needed. In 1999, this was relatively new technology. We asked for them to do this and they were able to accommodate us with a sit that would be set up with end users id and password. They completed this while in final negotiations with us. Custom built for VT. Demurage was set very low

38 All nine members of the committee scored all four offerors based on the evaluation criteria. The scores were tallied and averaged. The company with the highest average score was awarded the contract. This was not unanimous. 8 of 9 committee members agreed upon the Holox.

39 For this example, there were no defined deliverables associated with costs. The contract just reflected all the documentation through the process, the contract period and that compensation and method of payment would be paid in accordance with the contract documents. Attachment B of the contract was a gas price list. Attachment C of the contract was a an equipment and supply list.

40 This incorporated the RFP, the Contractor s response to the RFP, the Contractor s multiple responses to the negotiation questions, a gas price list and an equipment and supply list. The contract was approved by VT legal and then signed by Holox s Vice President of Operations and Virginia Tech s Executive Vice President. Because this was a campus wide contract and because the dollar threshold was expect to be more than $250,000, the VP level of Virginia Tech signed this contract.

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42 We needed to know that billing was being done correctly. Deliveries were being made on time M,W,F Credits and discounts were being applied properly Any issues with website, billing, delivery etc. needed to be reported to Purchasing immediately so we could stay on top of them during the implementation and not allow the contract to get off track. UVA joined the contract mid negotiation. We needed to know if it was working for them too.

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44 Thanks to Neal Turner, Emergency Services Coordinator, Montgomery County for providing pictures from the 4/16/07 event and days following. Thanks to NAOSMM conference committee for having me speak. Thanks to all my NAOSMM friends (new and old) for all the great memories.

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