Q. Would you consider the State of IL Joint Procurement Program a GSA Schedule type contracting method? The State's Central Procurement office issues competitive procurements and in the procurement subsequent contract documents it clearly states that these contracts allow all state agencies and all local government agencies within the state of IL to purchase items and services from these select master agreements; these agreements usually entail substantial discounted pricing with the understanding that these contracts will be purchased from various state and local government agencies (thus providing bulk discounts). We do not consider this a joint procurement or assignment (piggybacking) type contract. Our agency can purchase items from contracts issued under this program through state legislation, we are not obligated to buy off these contracts and these are not set up like IDIQs with assignment language (very similar to the GSA Schedule program).
Is there a checklist of items we need to adhere to in these cooperative purchases? I believe as long as we can show they were competitively bid, we complete a price analysis, and we append the final contract signed with the vendor to include the FTA clauses and requirements, we would satisfy the FTA's competitive procurement requirements. This is based on the circular as I could not find a PSR checklist for State, GSA or Local Government Cooperative Purchases.
We were told recently that we violated the requirements for piggybacking as these cooperative procurement master agreements did not contain minimums and maximums as required in piggybacking/IDIQ contracts. But I believe these contracts were mistakenly categorized as piggybacking/IDIQs.
A. State GSA type contracts awarded competitively for the benefit of all State agencies are not considered "piggybacking/IDIQ" actions and do not require minimum and maximum quantities or assignability clauses. You may use these contracts if you include all FTA required clauses and certifications with your first purchase order issued under the State contract. If you are buying a product that is other than the lowest offered price for that product under all State contracts, you must document the file as to why the higher priced product must be purchased. You must also determine that the State contracts were awarded with full and open competition and were not subject to geographical preferences (e.g., giving in-state vendors a bidding preference - as some states have such practices that are prohibited by FTA). (Posted: January, 2013)
Minnesota Cooperative Purchasing Venture Letter (Posted: July 30, 2013)