Evening star., 1937-01-10
CINCINNATI SAVES CASH
BY YCO.OPERATIVEBUYINC
Profit of About 100000 Year Record.
ed When Four Agencies
Pool Purchases.

ordination Of purchases. This sub.
committee consists of the CITY pur.
chasing agent, the county purchasing
agent and the business manager and
commissioner of supplies of the Board
OF Education and research assistant
from the Bureau of Governmental
Research, who serves as secretary of
the group. Later the purchasing agent
Of the university became afiliated
with the group.
An intensive study Of standards and
specifications was necessary in ad-
vance of joint purchasing in order to
reduce diversities Of sizes, qualities and
types of commodities to be used by
various departments while meeting
the requirements of all departments.
For instance, the standard sizes Of
floor brushes were reduced from eight
to four, making possible the purchase
Of larger quantities of each type. The
various types of gasoline that had
been purchased by the city, county
and school board we're reduced to
three grades suitable to the needs of
all, making possible considerable
saving over former prices through the
larger quantity bought. The city uses
100000 gallons of gasoline a year.
the county 100000 and the Board OF
Education $4,000.
The purchases for city require
ments in 1886 exceeded $4,000, 900, said
City Purchasing Agent H. F. Wagner.
This was almost double the normal
purchases, the increase being due to
purchase of materials for w. P. A. and
p w. A. projects for Cincinnati. The
total purchases for the city in 1885
were $2,748.573.
1T is difficult" said Wagner. "to
obtain comparative statistics showing,
with any degree of accuracy. the sav.
ings which have resulted from co-or-
dinating purchases, for, when com.
putting such figures. commodity mar
kets must be taken into consideration,
as fluctuating markets have a tendency
to impede accuracy Of figures which
show savings"
However, he estimated that savings
ranging from per cent to 25 per cent
are being made for the taxpayers on
approximately 1,50G items purchased
jointly for the city, county, school
board and university. The amount
of saving depends upon the nature Of
commodity purchased and the quantity.
Wagner has a list of some 5000
venders willing to bid on the require
ments Of the city and the other units.
Under the State law and city ordi-
nance, bids must be advertised for
publicly when the proposed purchase
exceeds $500. The county and school
board are not restricted by such adj
vertising requirements. Consequently,
the city makes purchases for the other
units on about $500 of the 1000 formal
purchasing contracts jointly made.
There also are more than 500 in
| formal agreements by which low bid
ders agree to supply needs Of any
single department of the city or other
units for certain commodity. at any
time during certain period, at the
price bid. These agreements are en-
/ tered into without advertisement
where the needs of a single depart
ment amount TO less than $500. The
periods of these agreements range
from three months to year.
Under the informal agreement plan,
the combined annual requirements for
all departments are estimated by the
purchasing agent and bids are invited,
based on this larger quantity, for de-
livery as needed. After the prices have
been obtained, the lowest and best
bidder is selected and an informal
agreement made.
Through use Of this agreement plan,
large number of miscellaneous pur-
chases have been put on the basis Of
quantity buying This plan elimi-
mates the necessity of certifying the
entire amount of such a contract and
thus does not tie up funds for long
contract period. 1t also reduces the
expense of purchasing. as it requires
only one bid instead Of many.
| (Copyright. 1887 by the North American
Newspaper Alliance, IncJ