Awarded products are offered in a number of major categories, including the following:

• Emergency vehicles-ambulances
• Emergency equipment-defibrillators, fire apparatus, self-contained breathing apparatus
• Vehicles-cars, light trucks, multi-purpose utility vehicles
• Trucks-medium and heavy trucks, cab/chassis and service bodies
• Buses-school and (in the future) transit
• Heavy equipment-earth moving, grounds & right-of-way
• Plastic bags and curbside refuse collection containers
• Refuse collection equipment
• Sewer cleaning and inspection equipment
• Street maintenance equipment-sweepers, rollers, repair equipment, etc.
• Traffic Signal Preemption equipment
• Communications equipment-radios, recorders, 911 equipment
• Trailers
• Above Ground Chemical Storage Tanks
• Auxiliary Power Generators
• Water Meters
  

1. The entity obtains two original Interlocal Contract forms from H-GAC. The contract is approved by the governing body of the governmental entity. Upon execution of the agreement, both originals are sent to H-GAC for completion. One original will be returned to the entity.
2. The entity obtains product information from H-GAC staff or from the H-GAC web site.
3. The entity contacts the supplier for product details, then, submits a paper or electronic purchase order to H-GAC. The purchase order should include the H-GAC processing fee.
4. H-GAC sends the order to the supplier.
5. H-GAC invoices the participant for the purchase, and pays the supplier upon
receipt of payment from the entity.

A new e-procurement system has recently been put into place for cooperative purchasing. A participating entity may place purchase orders with H-GAC through the e-procurement system, in addition to obtaining supplier information through the same process. The new electronic system may be accessed by logging onto the web site at www.hgacbuy.com.

A fee is added to each purchase order. The fee amount varies with the various types of purchase.

The Houston-Galveston Area Council is one of Texas' 24 regional councils of government. The Cooperative Purchasing Program was established in 1973 under the Texas Government Code, Chapter 791. The governing body for the organization includes 33 elected officials from local governments from the thirteen-county Gulf Coast Region, including county judges, mayors, commissioners, council members and school trustees. The cooperative is also served by a twelve member advisory committee representative of End Users, which meets two to three times each year in order to provide input and observations from participating local governments across Texas, and to disseminate information to End Users in each region of the state.
In 1997, the purchasing volume totaled $71.2 million, followed by $88.8 million in 1998, and $126.8 million in 1999. From a staff of two in 1990, the program now has a total of nineteen full-time positions, serving more than 1,100 end users and over 100 contractors.

End Users often obtain information from H-GAC for use in budgetary planning and documentation, for informational uses relating to audits, product specifications and pricing. End Users may also participate in any H-GAC sponsored conferences or workshops. Interlocal contracts are obtained from each participating agency, which, in accordance with the provisions of the Interlocal Cooperation Act, are automatically renewed annually, unless an updated contract document is requested or statutory changes occur.

A Cooperative Purchasing Program staff acts on behalf of participating local governments, state agencies, and non-profit corporations providing governmental functions and services. The staff researches and prepares product specifications, conducts specification conferences, solicits bids and proposals, evaluates responses and recommends award of contracts to the H-GAC Board of Directors. After award of the contracts, the staff processes End User purchase orders, and monitors contract compliance.

Bids are administered under statutes for municipalities included in the Texas Local Government Code, Chapter 252, as required by the 76th Legislature, Regular Session. This change applies to Councils of Governments. Previously, H-GAC applied both municipal and county statutes. Counties are allowed to participate in the program, because the Interlocal Cooperation Act stipulates that the parties may adopt the statutes applicable to one party, which will be applied to the cooperative activity.

The H-GAC is investigating the possibility of serving as an aggregator for competitive bidding of electricity. The election to participate in this project will be considered during the year 2001.