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07/16/2010

A statement from U. S. Communities regarding Office Depot’s decision not to respond to LA County’s solicitation for office supplies

“We respect Office Depot’s decision not to respond to the Los Angeles County office supply request for proposal. Unfortunately, they have mischaracterized the supplier commitments as “new” terms. They are not new. They are the same commitments that Office Depot made in 2005 when they won the current office supplies contract with Los Angeles County. Importantly, they recently agreed to the same supplier commitments in April of 2009 when they won the schools supplies contract with Fairfax County, Virginia. Nothing has changed in this current solicitation.

Regrettably, they appear to find the strict obligations in the U.S. Communities program that are designed specifically to protect public agencies by providing a guarantee of best government pricing to be “onerous” in their words. What they have termed “onerous” we consider a high bar and until now, Office Depot has always agreed that providing public agencies with that assurance was the right thing to do. We look forward to the result of the ongoing Los Angeles County evaluation process. There are other suppliers who are participating and we fully expect that this review process will yield a result that will provide improved value to the public agencies that we serve at a time when they need it the most.”

Michael LaPierre
National Program Manager
U.S. Communities Government Purchasing Alliance


05/24/2010	ServiceWear Webinars ServiceWear Apparel, U.S. Communities supplier partner for Uniform and Work Apparel is hosting a webinar to introduce your organization to the benefits of this new contract. To view the webinar, please click on the following link. http://www.servicewearapparel.com/about/webinars.php

05/14/2010

The U.S. Communities Great Government Series

SEGMENT #3: Intergovernmental Cooperation: Great Governments Doing More With Less
By: Steve Hamill
Click here to download the article.

SEGMENT #2: Governments achieve greatness by utilizing technology
By: Steve Hamill
Click here to download the article.

SEGMENT #1: Government potential to achieve greatness
By: Steve Hamill
Click here to download the article.

05/07/2010

New! U.S. Communities Art, Classroom and School Supplies, and Related Products and Services contract

We are pleased to announce that Fairfax County, Virginia, Public Schools has awarded School Specialty and Office Depot, the U.S. Communities Art, Classroom and School Supplies and Related Products and Services contract. The contract was competitively solicited and awarded to School Specialty and Office Depot on April 13, 2010 and is available for use by participating agencies nationwide, effective immediately. These suppliers offer schools and other public agencies many thousands of items at great discounts.

The U.S. Communities Art, Classroom and School Supplies contract makes it possible for participating agencies to quickly attain the supplies and services they need through a competitively bid contract. To learn more about this new contract, register now, for one of our New Contract Overview webinars:

May 25th at 11 am Eastern Time: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/897189659

May 26th at 2:00 pm Eastern Time: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/244239187

05/05/2010

Virco Summer Special

Virco announces its summer special flyer, offering all U.S. Communities participating agencies an unbeatable lead-time and pricing combination!

Simply order any of products shown in the Virco/U.S. Communities Summer Special flyer and these best-selling furniture items will be on their way to you in 10 business days or less. No minimums apply, plus you get the added benefit of special pricing for U.S. Communities participants only!

This offer only applies to models and colors shown in the Virco/U.S. Communities Summer Special flyer. Hurry: orders must be received on or before July 31, 2010 and be shippable on or before September 30, 2010.

Click here to download the Virco Summer Special flyer.


04/23/2010	Tech Depot’s Virtual Warehouse Offering Fairfax County and U.S. Communities are excited to announce the launch of the Tech Depot Virtual Warehouse offering, which simplifies the ordering of technology products for current Office Depot customers. Click here to download the Virtual Warehouse information.

04/12/2010

Apple Products Now Available through Tech Depot’s U.S. Communities Contract

Tech Depot is now an authorized Apple reseller, adding Mac hardware, software and accessories to the current U.S. Communities contract for technology solutions.

Tech Depot’s new Apple Store—Apple.TechDepot.com— offers innovative solutions to meet the demands of U. S Communities government and non-profit organizations**. Tech Depot is providing highly secure, compliant Apple systems that are easy to use, manage, and integrate into an organization’s existing environment.

**Education customers must purchase Apple directly from Apple Education at 800-800-2775.

Click here to download an overview of Tech Depot’s Apple Solutions or visit Tech Depot’s Solutions for Government from Apple.

04/01/2010

LA County Re-Solicitation of Office Supplies Contract

Los Angeles County will re-solicit the office supplies contract this year and not exercise the remaining one year contract extension through 2011. The current contract extends through the end of 2010. Los Angeles County plans to award a new contract by October 1, 2010.

The current contract has been in place for five years. Given the general economy and public agency funding issues, Los Angeles County decided to re-solicit the current contract in an effort to drive added value for public agencies.

Los Angeles County is the lead public agency responsible for issuing the solicitation, evaluating the bids and awarding a new contract. A team of public procurement professionals from agencies across the country will assist Los Angeles County in evaluating responses. Once the contract is awarded it will be made available on a voluntary basis to public agencies nationwide through the U.S. Communities Government Purchasing Alliance.

The new solicitation will be posted in the current solicitation page when it is released by Los Angeles County.

If you have any questions please contact the U.S. Communities Program Manager responsible for your area.

03/17/2010

U. S. Communities Webinars

1. Cost Savings Webinar
Join us on April 23, 2010. Register now to reserve your seat. Space is limited.

An overview of the U. S. Communities Government Purchasing Cooperative and how they can save agencies time and money!

Title: U.S. Communities Overview - How Cooperative Purchasing Results in Cost Savings
Date: Friday, April 23, 2010
Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM PDT

2. Introducing U.S. Communities to YMCA
Join us on May 10, 2010. Register now to reserve your seat. Space is limited.

An oveview of the U. S. Communities Purchasing Cooperative will be provided. Several contracts of interest to the YMCA will be discussed in more detail including Office Supplies and other contracts. There will be time for Q and A at the end of the webinar.

Title: U. S. Communities Purchasing Cooperative Overview - YMCA
Date: Monday, May 10, 2010
Time: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM EDT

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

02/01/2010

Uniform and Work Apparel Contract

The City of San Antonio has awarded ServiceWear Apparel, the U.S. Communities Uniform and Work Apparel contract. ServiceWear Apparel distributes a comprehensive range of high-quality apparel and offers an array of unique benefits such as Multiple fast and easy ordering methods, thousands of garment customization options, a quality assurance guarantee, no oversize charges, FOB destination shipping and much more. Click here to download the documents.

01/25/2010

Roofing Supplies and Related Products and Services Contract

Cobb County, Georgia has awarded Garland/DBS, Inc. the U.S. Communities Roofing Supplies and Related Products and Services contract. Under the terms of this nationally bid contract, participating agencies of U. S. Communities will be able to purchase materials and services from the entire Garland/DBS, Inc. catalog at best available government pricing among other value added benefits. Click here to download the documents.


12/28/2009	New Telecommunication Supplies Contract The Los Angeles County have awarded the Telecommunication Supplies contract to Graybar Electric for the period of January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2012. Click here to download the documents.


12/09/2009	Cleaning Chemicals and Supplies Contract Extension The Dallas County have extended the RFP No. 2007-118-3034 Request for Proposals for Cleaning Chemicals and Supplies awarded to Zep Manufacturing Company for the period of January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010. Click here to download the extension document.

12/07/2009

Ricoh Americas Offers New Reduced Pricing!

Ricoh Americas, the exclusive multifunctional printer/copier contract holder for U.S. Communities is pleased to announce new price reductions on several contracted product configurations. Some model configurations have been reduced by as much as 17% from the original contract price.

The price reduction has been approved by the City of Los Angeles, California, the Lead Public Agency for the U.S. Communities contract. An amendment has been executed to reflect the new pricing agreement.

For more information on the new price reduction, please call Mike Rutledge at 1-800-276-9764, or email at mike.rutledge@ricoh-usa.com.


11/24/2009	Notice of Intent to Award Telecommunication RFP Los Angeles County has issued a Letter of Intent to award the Telecomuunication RFP to Graybar. Click here to download the Letter of Intent.

11/05/2009

New Office Depot Pricing

Pursuant to the Los Angeles County Office and School Supply Master agreement, Los Angeles County approved the following updated pricing for U.S. Communities program participants effective Monday, October 12, 2009.

The October 12, 2009 price updates are scheduled to remain in effect until April 2010;

Items appearing in the current printed BSD catalog (BSD 18) have all been heavily discounted under the terms of the contract.

Items not appearing in the current printed BSD catalog (BSD 18) will receive a minimum list less 10% discount;
Clearance items are included with the October pricing update. Quantities limited, no rain checks.
Expanded cleaning and break room offering, featuring over 3,000 items, has been added;
Color copy pricing will be reduced to $0.24 per page, per side.



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