Tom Henry Unveils Purchasing Plan

Tom Henry released his plan for saving the city money by forming a collaborative purchasing network. An excerpt is shown below or you can read the whole thing here.

HENRY’S PROVEN BUSINESS SKILLS TO BOOST SAVINGS FOR PUBLIC, CITY PURCHASING, AREA PARTNERS

Collaborative Purchasing Plan Leads Mayoral Candidate’s Idea List for Getting the Most Bang Out of Every Taxpayer Buck

Fort Wayne, Indiana – Demonstrating his commitment to taxpayer savings, improved government effectiveness and enhanced cooperation, Mayoral candidate Tom Henry today rolled out his plan for a northeast Indiana collaborative purchasing network. The public-sector membership group would bid for commonly used products and services en masse creating economies of scale and a greater return on public expenditures.

“Higher value, better services, lower costs,” stated Henry. “These three simple tests have been my decision-making benchmarks. As a former hospital administrator, I helped start a group purchasing network that gave buying power to area hospitals and cut costs for patients. It saved, on average, 8 percent to 10 percent for our members every year. I’ll bring that same cost-efficient, customer-friendly thinking, experience and action into the Mayor’s Office. The citizens of Fort Wayne deserve to get the best deal, too.”

An overview of Henry’s collaborative purchasing network includes the following elements:
- Open membership to area cities, counties, towns, school corporations and other jurisdictions with taxing authority;
- Membership fees to support basic operations;
- Monthly meetings of purchasing directors or staff responsible for that function;
- Assessment of common purchasing needs and the sharing of best practices;
- Joint negotiation of the best deal on targeted products, supplies and services;
- Evaluation of budget cycles to identify and synchronize opportunities;
- Application of software-driven technology to increase performance; and
- Use of just-in-time delivery and existing warehouse facilities to keep costs in check.