Fire Departments Expedite Emergency Preparedness with Cooperative Purchasing

April 11, 2024 — Indianapolis, IN — Sourcewell, the nation’s leader in cooperative purchasing for the fire service, is supporting the Metro Officers Innovation Briefing, a special educational program at the 2024 FDIC International Conference in Indianapolis in April. The fourth annual program brings together high-ranking leaders in the fire and rescue service. 

The FDIC Innovation Briefing provides a space for peer-to-peer interactions, where leaders look for innovative solutions that will keep their departments prepared for everyday incidents, as well as major disasters. Sourcewell supports fire departments in procuring critical equipment and technology needed to meet preparedness and response challenges. In order to provide that support, education about how cooperative purchasing can help is critical.

In a recent webinar with Fire Engineering, Sourcewell joined fellow procurement and disaster recovery experts to share how the fire service can leverage cooperative contracts for improved disaster management and efficient use of disaster funding.

“Cooperative purchasing helps departments match the speed of a disaster while satisfying compliance requirements,” said Dr. Kim Abrego, PT DPT, COO of Disaster Recovery Services, during the recent Fire Engineering/Sourcewell webinar.

In any emergency response, access to equipment, supplies and other critical items directly affects the health and safety of the responders and the public. With disasters, to avoid costly audits that may occur post-event, departments must move quickly through the procurement process, while remaining compliant with the oftentimes complex requirements of many granting agencies.

Using cooperative purchasing, departments can expedite the procurement process by jumping on to existing government contracts. Leveraging existing agreements allows fire departments to spend less time writing RFPs and more time ensuring the safety of their communities.

Tammy Rimes, Executive Director of National Cooperative Procurement Partners, advised departments to locate contracts through cooperative purchasing organizations on an annual basis. This reduces time and cost to critical resources when a disaster event occurs. 

“With strategic cooperative purchasing,” Rimes says, “Leadership can quickly fill supply gaps, standardize particular pieces of equipment, or ‘pre-prepare’ for any disaster, well in advance.” 

As the premier government cooperative purchasing agency, Sourcewell supports the public safety sector with an expanding portfolio of pre-existing contracts. Departments can browse over 700 contracts to obtain the supplies and services critical to disaster planning, response and recovery.

More than 20 years ago, the fire service recognized the distinct advantage of cooperative purchasing and established their own procurement program, which has since moved to Sourcewell. 

"Sourcewell is committed to driving innovation in the fire service and supporting educational programs like the Fire Engineering webinar on disaster preparedness and the FDIC Innovation Briefing," says Jon Stodola, Director of Cooperative Contracts for Public Safety. 

Learn more about how cooperative purchasing can strengthen disaster planning and response and access the webinar here. Visit Sourcewell at the 2024 FDIC event April 18-20 at booth 4643. 

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About Sourcewell

Sourcewell cooperative purchasing allows public safety leaders to buy the fire equipment they want with a process they trust. 50,000 participating agencies in North America save time and money with Sourcewell’s government process. Agencies are empowered to fulfill their public service missions when they achieve fast, simple procurement by leveraging hundreds of awarded contracts.