COGWORKS is a cooperative procurement program of the East Texas Council of Governments. With members within the 14-county region of East Texas, we are looking for a partner organization to help reach a broader market and increase membership across the ETCOG region. The ideal partner organization would have access and key relationships across cities, towns, counties, state and national agencies, as well as special districts and other councils of government. Relationships, or the ability to develop and strengthen the relationships will be instrumental in expanding the membership base of COGWORKS. Additionally, the ideal partner will have key insight and understanding of the procurement challenges facing our state and local governmental entities today with strategic plans to fill the gaps with well-grounded solutions to fill those procurement gaps. A detailed understanding of procurement requirements and new cutting-edge procurement concepts such as agile procurement are crucial. The anticipated timeline to implement this initiative of the COGWORKS Cooperative purchasing program is to begin work immediately after contract execution and occur within 1 year of contract date. By year 2, the initiative is anticipated to be fully operational and administered by the selected firm. The COGWORKS team look to begin working on this project as soon as the partner is retained. Respondent firms should provide a primarily narrative response to this RFP to provide insight on how they can help COGWORKS achieve success in this timeline. In addition to the overarching questions posed above, the Technical Proposal shall consist of answers to specific prompts. Responses shall be narrative, original, and remain within the subject parameters of each prompt. Additional information regarding your firm’s ability to provide additional pertinent information, or value-add criteria may be submitted as extra sheets that are clearly identified as such.
