Business Challenge
During the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic, a large public school system located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States was in desperate need of pandemic supplies to protect the well-being of their students, staff and parents. Serving over 60,000 students ranging from pre-kindergarten to adult students, the school system was searching for highly sought-after safety supplies such as hand sanitizer, disinfectants, masks, and gloves and solicited a request for proposal. The challenge the public school system was facing was the lack of receiving physical samples or product specification sheets prior to a purchase during their initial solicitation process. This created complications with the school system not fully knowing if they were purchasing quality supplies for an appropriate price.
Solution
A local Network distributor, who has had an existing relationship with the school system, helped them leverage the OMNIA Partners contract. The OMNIA Partners contract is a competitively solicited cooperative contract which established costs including name-brand products for Pandemic Safety Supplies. The Network distributor was also able to provide the requested samples, specification sheets, and time frames for these highly sought-after products. Because of their years of working together and being backed by Network’s organization, the distributor was able to provide firm time frames of when to expect a delivery and what items would be delivered.
Results
Due to the purchasing power of the OMNIA Partners contract, the school system was able to:
- Secure the necessary supplies they needed in a timely fashion
- Receive quality products
- Work with a reliable distributor they had an existing relationship with
- Follow their current payment terms despite the pandemic
About Network Distribution
Network Distribution® (Network) is a global distribution organization supported by the power of local expertise. We work with customers to create and manage supply programs that ensure facilities have the products they need to generate business success.
About OMNIA Partners
OMNIA Partners is the largest and most experienced organization in procurement and supply chain management. Covering both the private and public sectors, OMNIA Partners unites industry-leading buying power and world-class suppliers to offer an extensive portfolio of sourcing solutions and partnerships.
