Leadership Team tackles vehicle procurement

This team took on the challenge of capital-equipment purchasing for public transportation sub-recipients. ITD’s Public Transportation division (ITD-PT) receives $1M-$1.75M in federal funding each year to be used for capital procurement, which represents 16% of the total public transportation funds ITD-PT receives annually. Approximately, 90% of the Capital procurement is spent on purchasing vehicles.

ITD-PT staff allocates a percentage to each ITD district, based on rural population. These entities then have four years to spend the federal funds before the funding is returned to the Federal Transit Authority.

So here’s the challenge, smaller sub-recipients struggle to procure transit vehicles and to meet federal and state requirements associated with allocated monies. Unfortunately, Idaho Code does not allow nonprofit entities to procure via state contracts. Additionally, the state cannot lend credit and administrative rules associated with this process fall under the jurisdiction of the Division of Purchasing.

This means sub-recipients must independently procure the vehicles, which is often complex and confusing. Idaho is made up of many small, rural local jurisdictions, and because these nonprofit providers often need advice and expertise, the ITD-PT staff spends a significant amount of time administering these capital-equipment purchases.

Therefore, the team’s vision is to provide better customer service to our public transportation nonprofit sub-recipients and establish a process to allow these entities to procure transit vehicles through an available multi-state agreement. Joint procurement benefits will include enjoying economies of scale.

VIDEO: Check out the team's opening pitch from the Leadership Summit. 

Changing Idaho Code is not for the faint of heart and on a topic such as this, it’d be like climbing Mt. Borah in January —  possible, but also daunting and intimidating. So, our group promoted the solution of engaging in a multi-state cooperative agreement. 

In fact, an agreement like this already exists between Washington, Oregon, and Alaska. The agreement is currently up for revisions and our ITD-PT team has already been exploring this alternative and participating in the process.

Champion:  Dave Tolman
Team Leader:  Juanita Risch
Facilitator: Jamie Hamilton
Team Members: Jacqueline Leech, Valerie Bolinger, Ramon Hobdey-Sanchez, Steve Spoor, Michelle Doane, and Stephanie Wright.

Published 12-07-18