The Cooperative Purchasing Program authorizes political subdivisions to acquire products and services from existing statewide contracts. The popularity of this program continues to grow once such entities realize the potential savings.

Karen Byrd, manager of the External Relations Unit, and her staff have been promoting this program through marketing letters and public speaking engagements in order to spread the good news.

At the end of 2001, more than 100 political subdivisions were actively participating in this program. A registration fee of $100 is required, which allows for the entity to receive information and permission to use up to 10 statewide contracts.

Byrd explained that one order from the new tire contract could save a political subdivision the entire registration fee. "It is definitely worth the money for cities, towns, county commissions, volunteer fire departments, public service districts and other eligible organizations to get involved and start saving money," she said.

For more details on this program, visit the Purchasing Division’s website at http://www.state.wv.us/admin/purchase/coop or call Karen Byrd at (304) 558-4317 or via e-mail at kbyrd@gwmail.state.wv.us.

State agencies are required to enter all fixed assets with a value of $1,000 or more into the WVFIMS Fixed Assets System, according to Jo Ann Dunlap, Administration Unit Manager. Assets should be entered as soon as the invoice has been paid and the "I’ document generated.

"Agencies are responsible for the property which is acquired for state use," Dunlap said. "In addition, the fixed assets coordinators should educate others in their agencies on the policies and procedures governing the Fixed Assets Program."

The Fixed Assets Program is used to track state property from acquisition to disposal. "It is important for agencies to ensure that property is not only documented in the system when it is acquired, but equally important, when it is being disposed through the West Virginia State Agency for Surplus Property (WVSASP)," Dunlap said.

According to the Inventory Management and Surplus Property Disposition Policies and Procedures, WVSASP is responsible for the disposition of all state property no longer needed by the owning agency, regardless of the acquisition cost. Even though the reportable capitalization figure is $1,000 for reportable equipment, property costing less than $1,000 also must be retired to WVSASP. It is the agency’s responsibility to generate the proper paperwork when retiring assets to Surplus Property. All items retired must be on a WV-103 retirement document if under $1,000 and not in the WVFIMS Fixed Asset System.

Items worth more than $1,000 must have the appropriate WVFIMS cover sheet, properly documenting the retirement of these items. "Items will be removed from the agency's inventory when they are either received in Dunbar by WVSASP personnel, have been sold on-site by WVSASP personnel or traded in with prior WVSASP approval," Surplus Property Manager Ken Frye said. "Upon completion of these various methods of disposal, WVSASP will remove those items from the agency's inventory."

Questions on the Fixed Assets Pro-gram may be directed to Administra-tion Manager Jo Ann Dunlap at (304) 558-0059 or Surplus Property Manager Ken Frye at (304) 766-2626.

The Purchasing Division recently announced a pilot program that would allow state agencies to purchase commodities and services from West Virginia vendors that (1) hold federal contracts; or, (2) are authorized to sell from federal contracts.

A memorandum was distributed in late December to West Virginia vendors explaining the program and requirements for participation. A limited number of valid applications were received from West Virginia vendors.

From a majority of those received, the proposed federal contracts duplicated existing or planned state contracts. Since the acceptance of these contracts would not achieve the goals of assisting resident vendors or reducing the contract processing time, the Purchasing Division chose to cancel this program.

The Purchasing Division appreciates the interest of those West Virginia vendors who expressed an interest in this program and took the time and effort to respond.

Several years ago, the Division of Highways closed many of its gas pumps in the state due to aging tanks. However, many of these locations are being reopened with new gas tanks installed above ground, according to Highways Equipment Supervisor Gary Barr.

The locations that were previously closed had underground tanks. When it became time for the periodic reviews to be recertified, the decision was made to close the pumps because of their age rather than complete the certification process.

The Division of Highways currently operates 125 locations within the state that service state vehicles, including 10 locations that have been reopened. An additional 10 locations are in the process of being reopened, bringing the total to 145, making it even more convenient to fill up your tank with gasoline when conducting state business.

Steve Kelman, professor of public management at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, explained in a recent issue of Government Executive magazine, that anyone who follows trends in government management knows that contracting is becoming an increasingly important way government gets its work done. A number of agencies, such as Defense, Energy and NASA, spend a majority, in some cases an overwhelmingly majority, of their budgets on contracted products and services. Agency success is dependent upon contracting success.

Thus, contracting management must be considered a core competency of organizations. This is different from the traditional view of contracting as a subsidiary administrative function. In the 21st century, contracting management needs to become one of the central concerns of senior political and career executives.

When government contracts for anything from technology to training, it does not need to know how to produce the products or services in question, but it needs to do three things well:

· Develop a business strategy, specifying requirements for what will be bought, and choosing an appropriate contract and incentives.

· Select the right suppliers.

· Administer the contract once signed.

Together, these activities constitute what can be called "contracting management."

The procurement reforms of the last decade have helped government do a better job on the first two items above, which involve activities up to the time the contract is signed. But contract administration — what happens after the contract is signed — has been the stepchild of the reform effort.

If contracting management is to become a core competency, the first thing to realize is that it is mainly about management. A leadership job in contract administration includes strategy and goal-setting; inspiring those doing the work, including contractors, with enthusiasm and public purpose; performance management; managing horizontal interfaces between the contractor and users of the contractor’s services; and managing vertical interfaces with higher levels of the organization and with the external environment.

In the last issue of The Buyers Network, the Purchasing Division’s contract management program was introduced, with specific timeframes in which contracts will be reviewed with the buyer, the agency users and the vendors. Positive feedback has been received regarding this program. (See article on the Statewide Contract for Key Punch Services (SWC-DATA) as a result from this program).