|
Bid No. |
Bid Name |
No. of Items Bid |
Participating Memebers |
Total Bid Award |
Average Savings |
|
02-03 |
Custodial Supplies |
393 |
18 |
1,499,196 |
12.6% |
|
02-04 |
Mulch, Chips & Soils |
33 |
10 |
89,362 |
16.6% |
|
02-05 |
Tires, Tubes & Recapping |
27 |
6 |
331,384 |
15.0% |
|
02-07 |
Fuel Oils, Unleaded Gas & #2 Diesel Oil |
24 |
16 |
3,908,755 |
11.7% |
|
02-08 |
Audiovisual & IMS Supplies |
142 |
10 |
283,803 |
5.0% |
|
02-09 |
Lamps, Tubes & Ballasts |
146 |
11 |
164,932 |
10.0% |
|
02-10 |
Reprographic Paper |
59 |
12 |
474,050 |
9.6% |
|
02-11 |
Classroom Amplification |
13 |
13 |
83,500 |
7.3% |
|
02-12 |
Cafeteria Small Equipment |
183 |
8 |
31,990 |
18.8% |
|
02-13 |
Cafeteria Disposable Prods. |
127 |
8 |
157,670 |
11.1% |
|
02-14 |
Cafeteria Groceries |
344 |
8 |
1,570,718 |
3.5% |
|
|
|
Total: |
|
1,491 |
120 |
$8,595,360 |
|
|
|
District |
No. of Bids |
Net Estimated Savings |
|
Bensalem Twp. |
10 |
74,697 |
|
Bristol Borough |
9 |
7,571 |
|
Bristol Township |
8 |
79,804 |
|
Centennial |
7 |
67,172 |
|
Central Bucks |
7 |
125,836 |
|
Council Rock |
6 |
34,070 |
|
Morrisville |
4 |
12,559 |
|
Neshaminy |
10 |
130,977 |
|
New Hope/Solebury |
10 |
11,596 |
|
Palisades |
8 |
31,049 |
|
Pennridge |
8 |
50,198 |
|
Pennsbury |
7 |
100,872 |
|
Quakertown Comm. |
6 |
28,857 |
|
Bucks Cty. Tech. School |
8 |
6,382 |
|
Middle Bucks Inst. of Tech. |
2 |
2,721 |
|
Upper Bucks Vo-Tech. School |
2 |
8,141 |
|
BCIU |
6 |
24,187 |
|
Bucks Cty. Comm. College |
2 |
24,494 |
|
|
|
Total: |
121 |
$821,123 |
|
|
The Group is also considering the addition of an Investment Consulting bid for the 2002-03 school year that would be available to participating members for an additional fee.
Any individual or company interested in bidding on any of these items or obtaining information on the Bucks County Schools Cooperative Purchasing Group may mail their request to Ms. Patricia Frank, Director of Purchasing/Facilities Services, Bucks County Schools Intermediate Unit #22, 705 Shady Retreat Road, Doylestown, PA 18901; or e-mail their request to Ms. Patricia Pulley, Bid Coordinator, Bucks County Schools Cooperative Purchasing Group, at ppulley@bucksiu.org.
E-RATE BID
The Cooperative Purchasing Group bid telecommunication services in conformance with the FCC's Universal Service Fund for Schools & Libraries E-Rate Discount Program during the 2000-01 year. This three (3) year bid (which gives the members an option for two additional years) resulted in an estimated annual savings of $323,900 to the eight members (4 School Districts, 3 Vo-Techs and IU) that were able to start using this service during the 2001-02 year.
In addition to annual savings on their telecommunication costs, the members using this bid are also eligible for an estimated additional $565,874 in annual rebates from the Federal Government as part of the "E-Rate" program. Much of this annual rebate is directly attributed to the district's participation in this telecommunication services bid.
REGIONAL EFFORT - Electric Energy Generation Bid
The two (2) regional 4 county efforts include an electric energy bid which is comprised of all seventeen (17) Bucks County members and one hundred and eighty-one (181) entities in total, consuming over 430 million kWh of power annually. This regional bid, which was developed by the Delaware Valley Energy Consortium (DVEC) www.dvec.gen.pa.us, was started in 1993 by the four (4) Intermediate Units (Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery IUs) serving the school districts in these counties. In order to make the energy demands more attractive to potential bidders, DVEC was expanded to include other governmental and not-for-profit agencies. This group now includes:
- 62 Public School Districts
- 7 Area Vocational Technical Schools
- 4 Intermediate Units
- 55 Private Schools
- 44 Municipalities
- 3 Authorities or Colleges
- 1 County Government
- 1 College
- 4 Other Non-Profit Organizations
The Bucks County Schools Cooperative Purchasing Group contributed over 114 million kWh to this bid. Due to the nationwide electric shortage that developed during the 2000-01 year, the DVEC was unable to obtain any bids with rates that were less than our local service provider's, "Philadelphia Electric Company (PECO)", tariffed rates. Accordingly, all of our member districts were advised to use PECO as their electric generation utility company for the 2002-03 year. The DVEC is planning to retest the market for the 2002-03 year, and if able to obtain bids resulting in savings to its members, will advise them of the opportunity at that time.
REGIONAL EFFORT - Health Care Insurance
The other effort undertaken by the four (4) counties in which the Bucks County Schools Cooperative Purchasing Group participated was an investigation of the potential benefits of bidding and purchasing various health care insurance (hospitalization, dental, vision, life, etc.) for the staff working in the public school districts in these counties. This effort began in 1995 and includes all of Bucks County's school districts, area vocational technical schools and the Intermediate Unit. Combined with the other counties, this group includes over seventy-seven (77) member school entities. The Group's potential membership would include over 35,000 employees insuring over 80,000 lives with premiums in excess of $230 million dollars.
Working together, the Group has had a number of positive achievements and has been able to create a situation where numerous additional benefits and cost savings may be available to participating school districts. Included in these achievements are:
- The creation of an advisory group including District Superintendents, Business Administrators, Personnel Directors and IU Representatives from each county to help identify areas of concern to local districts. The objectives identified by the advisory group include:
- Utilize aggregate size of Consortium members to negotiate and purchase or self-insure flexible, quality health care services;
- Coordination of health care information on a four (4) county basis;
- Serve as an ongoing resource to participating schools;
- Customize plans for individual schools; and
- Provide ongoing education and training to school administrators, unions and boards in order to positively influence health care.
- The completion of a comprehensive study in 1998 by Coopers & Lybrand (now Price, Waterhouse Cooper, Lybrand) on the advisability of, and benefits and potential cost savings resulting from, the formation of a "mega" consortium. The study indicated that a consortium of this type would be to our mutual benefit and further indicated that the Bucks County districts had the greatest potential for savings through the joining of a consortium.
- The development and maintenance of a huge database of types of insurance, demographic information on covered employees and dependents, and cost incurred by the public school districts in the four (4) county region.
- The successful negotiation of a two-year (1999-00 & 2000-01) fixed administration fee of $2.95 for all Delta Dental participants. The fee resulted in savings of $.65 to $1.50 per month, per employee for participating districts. (Five districts in Bucks County took advantage of this reduced Delta Dental administration fee, saving an estimated $81,000.)
- Numerous meetings with Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Aetna/US Healthcare, Delta Dental and other health insurance companies to discuss activities to help reduce districts' costs. While no direct savings can be calculated from the result of these meetings, they have helped to increase the awareness of these companies of our concerns.
This effort is still in its developmental stage and has not resulted in any formal bids or establishment of self-insured plans. However, the group has identified a number of goals, each designed to build on the success we have already achieved. The goals include:
- The continuation of efforts to develop cost-effective health care insurance alternatives (probably using some form of self-insured model) for school districts in the four (4) counties.
- The continued discussion and coordination of efforts with the Heinze Foundation Trust as it continues its efforts to develop a statewide health care consortium.
- The inclusion of PSEA and other employee representatives in our advisory group.
To help us achieve these goals, the group approved the hiring of Watson Wyatt Worldwide, an employee benefits and human resources consulting firm with expertise in this area. The Group has set the 2002-03 year as a decision date for the formation and adoption of cost saving strategies to be recommended to its members or the discontinuation of this joint effort. As an adjunct to this four (4) county effort, Bucks County created a limited health care group which now includes two (2) school districts (Bristol Borough and Bristol Township), the three (3) area vocational technical schools and the Intermediate Unit. As a result of these districts coming together, every member in the group received a lower 1999-2000 renewal rate from Blue Cross/Blue Shield than they would have received had they continued to be rated as separate entities. The savings, as computed by the group's consultant, range from 1.5% to 5% under what the individual rates would have been without joining together. Savings on the renewals since the initial year have not yet been computed, but estimates are that they have continued to result in significant benefits to the group for joining together. This limited health care group was created, in addition to a previously formed group, by Bucks County with Aetna/US Healthcare in 1995. This HMO group included one (1) school district (Bristol Township), two (2) area vocational technical schools (Bucks County Technical School and Middle Bucks Institute of Technology) and the Intermediate Unit. Combined, these school entities realized an estimated savings of $400,000 during the four (4) years it was in existence.
(Updated 10/03/02) |
