Materials & Services
Organization
| Click here for a list of our current solicitations. |
The Materials and Services Division is one of the two procuring divisions of the Procurement Department. They are allocated ten Contracts & Commodity Officers or Buyers and two Administrative Support Staff to establish sources and contracts as requested and funded by the County's Operational Departments and 8,000 employees. Last year they conducted about 700 solicitations and maintained about 3,000 active contracts(2,570 in Synergen alone).
There are hundreds of different commodity groups, each having their own unique attributes and requirements. To promote knowledge acquisition and retention we have organized the Procuring Staff by Commodity. The Buyer-Commodity Assignments Search function and Contact Information list is posted on our Internet at: http://www.pima.gov/procure/
What We Procure
The Division procures all non-Construction or Architectural/Engineering materials and services. The variety and scope of requirements is amazing and very challenging. Recently the department received a call from one of our using departments requesting that we find ‘lodging” for 300 fighting roosters, hens and chicks which were seized/rescued by the Sheriff's Department. We have the opportunity to work with many terrific Departments and Staff, one of which is the Sheriff's SWAT Division. They certainly have the most interesting commodities….guns, flash-bangs, dogs, fast cars, planes and bicycles.
Customer Service
As the Procurement processes prescribed by law and the specifications submitted by departments are the primary determiners of Contract Prices, the M&S Division is focused on delivering value by expediting the establishment of requested contracts to allow the operating departments to accelerate their delivery of services to the community. Two years ago we averaged 70 requisitions of age greater than 90 days each week. Today, that number is down to less than two per week.
We have designed, developed and presently utilize cascading Synergen Performance scorecards and charts to monitor requisition cycle times and identify necessary improvement actions. The charts are automatically updated early each Monday morning. Please contact Terry Finefrock or one of our CCOs for an illustration.
We are presently working with IT to develop functionality that allows County Suppliers to register and update their Vendor information via an Internet portal. Additionally, we are also working with the Information Technolodgy Department to develop an Email Broadcast System that will be utilized to issue notices of our solicitations to all Vendors expressing an interest in the commodity codes associated with the solicitation. The System will also be available for other Departments to use to Broadcast Announcements to support their objectives.
We hope you enjoy our newsletter. We encourage you to review the other links especially the Spotlight where we will profile our Staff. Let us know if you have any particular subjects or questions you'd like us to include in future editions.