Joint purchasing of fuel saves village money
LOMBARD, Illinois— In light of rising fuel costs, smart consumers shop around for lower gasoline prices to save money before filling up their cars. The Village of Lombard is no different when it comes to fueling its fleet of vehicles.
When the Village of Lombard's contract with a fuel supplier recently ended, the Public Works Department's Vehicle Maintenance Supervisor, John Mannino, got to work in researching ways to reduce expenses.
He found it in a partnership with DuPage County through the joint purchasing of fuel.
“Previously, the Village dealt with contract bids from fuel suppliers that sold to individual agencies. The contract's provisions gave the Village more structure to their fuel purchases, delivery reliability and avoided price gouging when in high demand,” said Mannino.
Moving forward from this original idea, Mannino sought another option to add to the bidding process when the current contract was over.
Mannino researched what other municipalities were doing to save on fuel expenses and found local agencies that allowed the Village to be part of a partnership to purchase fuel.
“The volume of buying large amounts of fuel like DuPage County does gives us a better purchasing power and lowers the margin by reducing delivery fees,” explained Mannino. “The distinct advantage of this joint venture is that the more customers behind the DuPage County contract, the larger the fuel purchase and the more buying power we have from a supplier. The Village did not have to dedicate themselves to certain purchasing agents for the bid process. It gave us a wider attraction and kept the price low,” added Mannino.
The positive impact has already been felt by this partnership. Mannino estimates that the Village will save thousands of dollars by the end of fiscal year 2012 with this new contract.
Mannino sums up the cost cutting process by the Village of Lombard by noting that consumer education is very important when trying to save costs at the pump.
“As a consumer, the Village lowers expenses and saves costs with opportunities like the joint purchasing of fuel and adds to the range of programs initiated by the Village of Lombard to reduce fuel consumption,” concluded Mannino.
During the past few years, all Village departments have been looking at various ways to save money, reduce Village expenditures and combine resources yet still deliver the same quality services that Lombard residents expect to receive. Reducing fuel costs with a more efficient delivery system is one such example.