TIPS
November 07, 2006
New Missouri Purchasing Cooperative.
The Interlocal Purchasing System (TIPS).
The Missouri Association of Rural Education (MARE) has made it possible for a multi-state purchasing cooperative to provide cooperative purchasing opportunities to public and private schools in the state of Missouri.
The Interlocal Purchasing System (TIPS) is currently available to
school districts in Texas, Arkansas, and now in Missouri. It is
hoped that in the near future Oklahoma will come on board making
this a Four State Purchasing Cooperative. TIPS is operated by the
Region VIII Education Service Center in Texas, of which their
objective is to provide participating school districts with
opportunities for greater efficiency and economy in acquiring goods
and services. TIPS is governed by an Executive Board and an
Executive Director. Missouri is represented on the TIPS board of
directors by an individual designated by the MARE Executive
Board.
MEMBERSHIP in The Interlocal Purchasing System (TIPS) can
provide:
- State-of-the-art purchasing procedures to insure the most competitive contracts
- Competitive price solicitation and bulk purchasing for entities that yields economic benefits unobtainable by individual entities
- Quick and easy delivery of goods and services by contracting with “high performance” vendors
- Equalized purchasing power for smaller entities that are not able to command the best contracts for themselves
- Credibility and confidence in business procedures by maintaining open competition for purchases and by complying with purchasing laws
- Assistance to entities in maintaining essential controls for
budget and accounting purposes.
The Interlocal Purchasing System (TIPS) is offering FREE MEMBERSHIP to Missouri schools. To join, a school district must complete the Interlocal Agreement and Board Resolution.
Signed Documents are sent to:
The Interlocal Purchasing System (TIPS)
P.O. Box 1894
Mt. Pleasant, Texas 75456
A New Member Welcome Packet is sent to each participating
school district, with information on how to use TIPS. Some school
districts may already be part of another Cooperative Purchasing
Program. This program is merely another option when considering
your purchases. One of the big benefits of this program is that a
school district does not have to order in large quantities. The
same price is available to a school district with less than 100
students as is available to a school district with 1,000+ students.
As this program gets implemented, invitations will be made to
interested Missouri vendors to complete the bid process to become
part of the program.
If you have any questions, you may contact David Mabe (Deputy Executive Director – Region 8 ESC) 1-866-839-8477 or Dr. Ray Patrick, MARE Executive Director 1-660-747-8050 or email rpatrick@moare.com.
