Cooley’s efforts make ITD heavy equipment
repairs easier, faster

She started getting requests more frequently from districts in need of heavy-equipment repairs (for equipment like that pictured above), and ITD Sr. Buyer Denise Cooley noticed that the repairs over $10,000 were being delayed for at least several days as the department waited while the request from the department's Business Support Management (BSM) processed through the Department of Purchasing (DOP).

The district would submit their request for repairs over $10,000 to BSM, which would then review the request, supporting documents, and quotes. BSM would submit a request to DOP for the “Exemption from Competition” form, but DOP might take up to several additional days to review the request before the district was given approval.

“Under the old system, during the approval wait time, the repair could not move forward because ITD could not issue a purchase order for the work without an approved exemption form from DOP,” she explained. “It was taking more and more of the districts’ time.”

All the while, the clock was ticking.

ITD owns and maintains a large number of non-licensed pieces of heavy equipment, Class B trucks, construction equipment, and heavy-duty mowing equipment, but does not have the specialized tools required to repair this equipment.

Equipment down time was increasing, which can quickly become a public-safety issue if ITD crews cannot respond in a timely fashion to a roadway situation. 

So, Cooley took action.

On January 30, Denise submitted a request to the DOP to remove the department from the several-days process.

Cooley found that the department had spent $215,000 on heavy equipment repairs that fell into the “more than $10k” category over a recent 12-month period. They had all required the exemption form.

“Far too much time was spent doing the same process over and over.”

Now, they don’t have to wait, greatly improving timely response and expediting necessary service to the driving public.

Published 03-06-20