U.S. Communities Purchasing Program
Local governments interested in saving substantial amounts of money on commodities purchases have an ally in the U.S. Communities Government Purchasing Alliance. The Alliance was formed in 1996 to provide publicly-solicited government contracts to all local and state agencies and non-profit organizations in the United States. By combining the buying power of the 87,000 local governments in America, the program is able to achieve substantial pricing discounts, implement best purchasing practices and offer substantial benefits to all levels of government.
The live auction is not yet obsolete, alternatives are readily available to government entities through technological advances directly linked to the World Wide Web. One such alternative is the state-of-the art online auction service provided to government entities throughout the United States by GovDeals. Similar to a private citizen utilizing eBay to sell items for profit, GovDeals allows governments to bid off their surplus equipment, furniture and supplies via the internet. ACCG recognized the many benefits of an online approach to auctioning and agreed to endorse GovDeals in 2006. Since that time, over 60 Georgia counties have used GovDeals’ services. Together they have sold over 2,500 items ranging from scrap metal to helicopters and collect over $7 million dollars in revenue from the sale of surplus.
How It Works
The process is simple and cost effective as there is no required purchase of software. As soon as an item is declared surplus, county government staff can simply upload a digital photo of the item, write up a brief description of it, post both a picture and the description on GovDeals.com and wait for the bidding to end. To alleviate concern about the use of technology for online auctions, GovDeals will even train county government employees on how to use the service. Trainers will explain the entire process from taking digital photos to monitoring bids.
Advantages to Using GovDeals
- Only government entities may sell on GovDeals
- Governments are only charged for items sold
- Anyone may buy items listed
- Benefits governments large and small
- Over 150,000 users registered in the nation and abroad
- Allows counties to transcend local and regional markets
- Reduce or eliminate storage, transportation and insurance costs
- Bidders can inspect online saving them time and money
- Easy to learn and use
- Items can be sold immediately thereby avoiding depreciation
- Designed for governments
o Secure and redundant system with audit trail
o Extensive record retention and reporting
For more information please contact Randy Hartmann at 404-522-5022 or:
Taylor Wilkins Christy Logan
GovDeals GovDeals
Sales Representative Manager
(251) 751-9357 (334) 387-0476
