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To Bid Or Not To Bid With One New Consideration

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a bond or had money taken away due to a reduction Gary Barkman, ACBS, NIGP-CPP, CPPB,
in enrollment. No matter the reason, rest assured Supervisor, Procurement Specialist I, Mesa Unified
that this could really increase the use of cooperative School District #4, can be reached at: gabarkman@
contracts within the state. If staff size is reduced but mpsaz.org
the workload is not, then where will you make up
the time needed to write your solicitations? Guess
what? It may not happen, as time may only allow
the Procurement Officer to verify there’s another
avenue available to make the necessary purchase,
which is sad but very realistic.
I hope this gives our procurement folks the
opportunity to consider these options and really
work through the process so that each person makes
the very best decision for their own district. The
above is not the “be-all, end-all” but it certainly
makes one think through the process to see if there
are additional reasons that might validate doing a
bid vs purchasing from a cooperative.

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