1% - Cooley negotiates $130,000 in savings

Denise Cooley, Sr. Buyer for Headquarters located in District 6, recently met with the department's provider of brine and road salt in the eastern Idaho region and negotiated a 1% discount that amount to a savings of $130,000 for the 2018-19 winter season when extrapolated over the entire state.

ITD has a contract in place with Compass Salt to provide those essential road-clearing materials. The initial salt order for ITD was more than $8.8 million. The company is out of Overland Park, Kansas, but the product comes from the Great Salt Lake.

The problem was that contract language required the contractor to submit an itemized invoice for every delivery location within 14 calendar days after the salt shed location was full. This created an unintended burden for the contractor, though, since deliveries to some locations would require an extended period of time to complete.

So, Compass Salt approached ITD with the burdensome requirement and asked to work with ITD to develop a solution

"I met with Compass Salt and we eliminated the 14-day requirement and also allowed Compass Salt to invoice as soon as the deliveries were made," said Cooley. "They also agreed to a 1% discount if ITD would process invoices for payment within 15 days of receipt of the invoice. It's a win-win."

Cooley then contacted each of the other ITD districts to advise them of the 1% negotiation, and that it would be reflected in their respective salt budgets. The 1% discount will remain in place for the balance of the 2018-2019 winter season.

Published 11-09-18