Original Date: 08/08/1994
Revision Date: 01/18/2007

The Stafford County Public Schools follow a set of well- established procurement guidelines and innovative practices for buying all its products and services. Procurements range from books to a fleet of 165 buses, with services encompassing all items from building construction to medical insurance. With a current annual operating budget of well over $105M, the procurement system would not be able to operate without using every cost savings opportunity.

These guidelines are necessary to handle the fastest growing school division in Virginia. The Stafford County Public Schools procurement system is responsible for the purchase of products and services it provides for 15,000 students, 1116 teachers, administrators, staff, 810 full and part-time support staff, and 18 elementary, middle, and high schools. Centralized purchasing, including the county government and the School Division operating under the Virginia Procurement Act, is a key component of the purchasing process. A set of common procurement procedures is followed for small purchases, competitive sealed bids/proposals, and professional services. Other components include the authorization given to a school/department site principal or supervisor to purchase items less than $500 without additional approval and quotes. Cooperative procurements are permitted to allow one school division to ride bids secured by another school division.

An historical database is maintained denoting responsible and responsive bidding practices, pricing trends, and delivery of all vendors doing business for the State, the county, and the school system for the purpose of developing vendor profiles. The school system has established memberships in certain low-cost consumer warehousing establishments for purchases at reduced prices on many items, and a food warehouse has been established to take advantage of USDA commodities. Stafford County can also obtain surplus items from the government laboratories and industrial activities prior to these items being sold at auction.

The Stafford County Public Schools, through its continuous improvement efforts and adaption of innovative procurement practices, has not only taken steps to reduce costs for products and services, but reduce the administrative costs for securing quotes and bids, awarding contracts, ensuring quality, and expediting delivery at substantial savings to the county taxpayers.

For more information see the Point of Contact for this survey.