Page 18 - AASBO EDGE Back to School 2020.indd

PROCUREMENT

BY DON HARRIS
Lari Staples Roger Spivey Lila McCleery

Amid Pandemic, Procurement Officials Adding
New Items to Their Shopping Lists

AASBO purchasing officials have busy been despite the onset On the topic of receiving bids, Spivey said he has accepted
of the coronavirus pandemic that closed schools, but some of all paper bids and used a Google program for electronic
the products weren’t what normally hd been on their shopping submittals. “It hasn’t been an issue,” he said. And Staples said
lists. Dysart has already switched to electronic bids.

For some, it was business as usual, sort of, with an occasional McCleery said Phoenix Union had a lot of bids out when
panic attack when key items weren’t available. In an AASBO the pandemic hit, and had to put out an amendment to delay
webinar July 16 moderated by AASBO Director of Purchasing opening, and to find a solution for accepting bids. Vendors
Bobby Williams II of Mesa Public Schools, Lari Staples Dysart were told to submit bids through FedEx or UPS to the
Unified School District, Roger Spivey, Litchfield Elementary district’s warehouse, which remained open. “We held the
School District, and Lila McCleery, Phoenix Union High bid opening through a public Zoom meeting in order to meet
School District, explored several COVID-19 purchasing the requirement for public bid opening,” McCleery said. “It
issues and challenges. worked well and kept us compliant.”

On the purchase of COVID-19 Personal Protective Equipment
supplies, McCleery said jokingly, “I had never known so many
hundreds and thousands of vendors who could email, letting
us know they had PPE supplies available for us. So we had a
great influx of vendors contacting us – a positive.”

But, initially when schools closed, panic hit. “How do we get
our cleaning supplies, our hand sanitizers, effective masks?”
McCleery said. “At the very beginning everybody was trying
to procure them and there wasn’t availability on the market. It
was a little bit challenging. As time has gone on, vendors are
getting items in stock with more availability. Thank goodness
that we have cooperative contracts that made it so much easier
than trying to put out a quick bid or a quick quote to purchase
those items. It’s really rolling relatively smoothly now.”

She wonders whether the district will have enough funding for
additional PPE supplies when students return.

“Until students come back, you don’t know what you don’t
know,” McCleery said.

Staples said that for the most part Dysart has been able to get
its supplies from contracted vendors. Among the new products
being offered is social-distancing signage, she said.

Spivey termed the experience: “It’s like trying to hit a moving
target. We’re able to meet the need of what we know about.
The only thing a little different is a shortage disposable
gloves. A lot of vendors don’t have them, there’s a pretty long
lead time and the price has gone up significantly. With the
CONTINUED ON PAGE 20

|
18 THE EDGE BACK TO SCHOOL 2020