Volunteers Make Use Of Many Talents to Find Way in Purchasing Maze

Volunteers Make Use Of Many Talents to Find Way in Purchasing Maze

features

At first glance, there may seem to be little difference in the purchasing methods of volunteer and paid fire departments. However, there are some important differences—especially in the techniques of implementing the purchasing methods.

If you were to select one word to epitomize why these differences exist, that word would be “independence.”

Where the fire fighters are volunteers—or even paid-on-call—they represent a sizable savings in salaries that the municipality savors. This translates into an atmosphere of independence that the volunteers can bring to budget discussions with municipal officials. The fact that they are not municipal employees allows volunteers to press their requests for equipment appropriations more forcibly and more persistently than can the chief officers of paid departments.

Effect on town officials

In a well-run volunteer fire department, there also is a unity of thought on budget requests that is recognized by the municipal politicians. They know that appropriations are requested only after committees and the general membership meetings of the volunteer fire department have discussed their needs and have reached a consensus. Town officials concede this unity by referring to what “the firemen” want or what “the volunteers” seek. The town fathers are likely to look on the volunteer chief—however persuasive and knowledgeable he may be in his own right—as the leader and spokesman for his fire fighters. Although in some towns the volunteer fire chief is appointed by the town administrator, the chief retains a certain amount of independence to be outspoken that is denied to the paid chief of a paid department.

While working committees are not unique to volunteer fire departments in the preparation of budget requests and the writing of specifications for purchasing equipment, their deliberations have a flavor of democracy that can be a bit strong for some paid chiefs. The volunteer chief learns to live with this and recognizes the fact that his ideas will prevail only if he can persuade committee members to accept them. In turn, the committee decisions must be acceptable to a majority of the department members if dissension is to be avoided.

The volunteer fire chief can save himself a lot of headaches by making sure that he, and not the president of the department, names the members of purchasing committees. This may sound as though it gives the chief a free hand to load the committtee with yesmen, but the experienced chief knows that this would be a major blunder.

Appointing the committee

In naming committee members, the chief must exhibit all the perspicacity of a football coach selecting the lineup for the big game. If it is an apparatus purchasing committee, then there should be some automotive talent on the committee. Certainly the department’s mechanical supervisor should be a member, but there also may be someone who has wide experience with diesel engines or a mechanical or electrical engineer who could be valuable assets. They may be rather poor as fire fighters but highly respected in their occupational specialities.

Someone on the committee should already be fully knowledgeable in the options available for the article to be bought, whether it be a pumper, a radio system, hose or a breathing apparatus recharging system. This will be a person who visits other fire departments, attends conferences and exhibits, and keeps current with fire service literature.

If you are buying an engine, certainly the captain of the company getting the new engine must be on the committee for that reason alone. If you are buying radio equipment, then the department’s communications officer should be named to the committee. Whoever is going to be in charge of the item to be bought should be on the committee so he can air his opinions before the specifications are written and the purchase decision made rather than after the equipment has been delivered.

When the item affects various segments of a volunteer department, these interests should be represented on the committee. For example, members who have retired from fire fighting but are active in the fund-raising and social activities of the fire department may have little interest in the details of a rescue truck, but they are a group that must be represented when you are going to build another station.

The pessimist

In many cases, representative committee members can be selected by a chief so that committee decisions will be reasonably close to the chiefs own desires. If the chief is shrewd, he will appoint people who will be able to reach acceptable compromises with his own ideas.

With all this, you are still likely to come up with the “supposin’ if” committee member. He can be costly, but if the others on the committee are reasonable, he can be handled. The “supposin’ if” man is the one who, after there is a general feeling that there should be no type of pump on the new ladder truck, says, “Supposin’ if the truck is out on a driving drill or coming back from a parade and comes across a car fire and there is no water on it?” Or after it has been generally decided that you want to carry X number of feet of large hose, he asks, “Supposin’ if you have to lay hose on a mutual aid call in Midrural and need another 100 feet of hose?” Of course you didn’t lay more than 1000 feet of hose in Midrural in the six times you were there in the last 15 years.

Department records and the opinions of reasonable committee members about the needs of the future can counter the arguments of the “supposin’ if” man, hut they probably will not convince him. However, he can be outvoted before you wind up with the tamden axles needed for a pumper carrying 4000 feet of hose and a 2500-gallon water tank at an astronomical, needless cost.

Size of committee

How large should the committee be? As the politician said, “That’s a good question.” However, the answer is not quite so good. It depends on how many interests should be represented on the committee to reach a conclusion that will be generally acceptable to the membership. It also depends on how well the members of your department can work together. What this adds up to is that there probably should be a minimum of five on committees for expensive purchases. There is no reason to wince at the thought of a seven-man committee—save that for eight or 10man committees.

I have worked on committtees of all sizes —even 10 or more—and I have found that the size of the committee did not matter as much as the ability of the members to participate in committee discussions with solid ideas and rational arguments. With a large committee, the chief as chairman—must make an effort to keep all members actively involved in committee activities. Otherwise, a large committee may wind up as a working group of three or four.

In a good, live, volunteer fire department, rank means nothing once a committee meeting gets under way. After all, today’s chief is tomorrow’s ex-chief and this year’s fire fighter may well be some year’s chief. So a lively giveand-take discussion of ideas not only can be expected, but should be encouraged. As long as everyone keeps in mind that the goal is to buy the best for their department, then the department—not any individual—will be the winner of the debate.

In order to better understand the purchasing process in a volunteer tire department, let’s follow the steps in buying an engine. Obviously, at some point a decision has to be made that the department needs a new engine. Most volunteer fire departments have regular meetings—sometimes monthly—of the line officers, and it is in these meetings that the idea of buying an engine becomes a formal objective. Even though the chief may first suggest buying an engine, he will seek the support of his line officers.

Concept developed

At this stage, the officers come to a general agreement on some rather vague specifications. They decide that a 1000-gpm pump should be bought instead of staying with the 750-gpm capacity of the engine being replaced. They may be satisfied with the 500gallon tank on the old engine, but instead of one 1 1/2-inch preconnected line, they want three preconnected 1 3/4-inch lines and one preconnected 2 1/2-inch line. In addition, the hose bed should hold 1200 feet of 2 1/2-inch hose and 800 feet of 4-inch. They also think that the new piece should have an automatic transmission and be powered by a diesel with 300 to 350 horsepower.

Now while these preliminary specifications are extremely general, they should be based on your department’s records and knowledge of technical progress that document the need for these apparatus features. Will they help you fight fire more effectively? Will they increase safety on the fireground? Will they increase the reliability and service life of the apparatus? You should be asking questions such as these because the answers will be the meat of your presentations before municipal boards reviewing your appropriation request.

Once you have determined some general specifications, such as we have outlined, you are ready to discuss prices with one or two apparatus sales representatives. They will give you a ballpark figure that tells you what kind of a money game you are going to play in estimating the amount of the appropriation you will request.

Refining the estimate

Let’s say that an apparatus sales representative tosses off $90,000 as the cost of the engine you have in mind. First you reach for the salt shaker. Then you ask some questions: How long ago did his manufacturer increase his prices? What was the percentage of the increase—5, 8, 10 percent? How soon does the sales rep expect another increase and what’s his guess as to the size of the increase? What is the latest rate of inflation?

Now you know why you took that $90,000 figure with more than a grain of salt. You now evaluate the answers to the questions we have just mentioned and come up with a cost estimate for the apparatus on the day it is delivered because that’s the date manufacturers have in mind when they price out specifications. Remember, it usually takes nine or more months after the signing of the contract for most major apparatus to be delivered—yes, there are exceptions—and the manufacturer has to estimate what his costs will be when the actual building of an engine starts a couple of months before the delivery date.

Now that you have estimated the cost of the apparatus, you take another look at the figure. Are purchasing committees in your department generally pretty frugal or are the members entranced by gold leaf and chrome and captivated by odd-size cabinets and costly engineering feats? The answer to this firms up the final size of your appropriation request. At this time, you remind yourself that it is far easier to argue for enough money to pay for what you need than it is to wind up with an inadequate appropriation and have to either go back for additional money or cut out an important feature of the apparatus.

Arguing for funds

Once the appropriation request is placed in the proposed municipal budget, you now face the burden of defending that request. If you are asking the volunteer fire department to spend its own money, the defense of the request may be only a little less formal, but it will follow along the same lines unless the majority of the members are already convinced that the apparatus should be bought.

While the budget process varies in detail in different areas, the principles for arguing for an appropriation remain the same.

The volunteer chief should first obtain the services of some talent in his department to help him develop the presentation of an appropriation request before municipal boards. In some cases, presentations must be made to both the chief governing body of the town—or county in some cases—and the board of finance. In other cases, pleas can be made to only one of these groups or to the town manager.

Whatever the appropriation route may be, use your department talent to develop a presentation based on solid facts. Writers, researchers, advertising men, publicity men, cameramen and others can be used in developing a presentation.

Developing your presentation

When a type of equipment new to your community—such as a ladder truck, a rescue truck or a paramedic van—is your objective, your presentation may have to be quite detailed and lengthy. After the chief has presented his reasons for buying the apparatus, he could do well to have other viewpoints presented by other officers and also civilians.

For example, the chief might stress how the new apparatus would be useful in providing a needed increase in fire protection. He might then have his mechanical supervisor explain why the new apparatus is needed to replace a piece that has become too costly to maintain and lacks safety features the new apparatus will have. The head of a local industry or a property owners group might be asked to say why he regards the purchase of the new apparatus as beneficial to his interests. A local person who holds political office on a county or state level and who is respected by members of the town governing or finance board as knowledgeable about the fire service could add his influence by speaking for the appropriation.

For a really important presentation—where you are facing a battle to get an appropriation—consider using visual aids. Show color slides of fires where the desired apparatus would have had an effect in limiting the loss. Never fall into the trap of estimating how much the loss might have been reduced. Also show slides of buildings where the use of the new apparatus would be effective in limiting the loss if a fire should occur in them. Refer to town plans for growth.

Cover past, present, future

In other words, use visual aids to show that you could have used the requested apparatus effectively in the past and there is both a present and future need for this equipment. Remember, the apparatus you buy today will be in service many years from now.

An overhead projector is useful for showing charts, graphs and maps. What is the cost of the apparatus in terms of the total budget, in relation to the total budget or on a per capita basis? Overhead transparencies can add visual impact to your argument.

When you are discussing the appropriation request before any municipal board, remember that the members are not fire fighters and that what you regard as convincing points may not make much of an impression on civilian board members. These people are politicians, businessmen, lawyers, engineers and representatives of all kinds of occupations. You have to talk to them in terms and concepts they can understand.

The saving of lives—including the lives of fire fighters—is a powerful concept when talking with fire fighters. Civilians look at this concept with less emotion. So if you are explaining why you need more self-contained breathing apparatus, you point out the safety to the lives of fire fighters, but you stress the dollars and cents value of SCBAs in reducing hospital costs—which have an effect on insurance premiums—and the moral responsibility to provide better working conditions in a dangerous occupation.

Show of strength

For the more politically-minded members of a board, there is nothing like having a large number of members of your department wearing dress uniforms and sitting in the audience as you make your presentation. The last time we did that in our town, the civilians attending the board of finance meeting gave us a solid round of applause as we left the auditorium upon the completion of the three-minute presentation allowed under the rules of the hearing.

Maybe the applause was an indication of relief that we didn’t exceed the three-minute rule, but at least we got the funding.

Whenever you make a lengthy presentation—more than a few minutes— before a board, it makes a lot of sense to leave with each member of the.board a printed summary of your major points. Don’t fall victim to the delusion that board members like to read, so keep the summary to less than a full page of double-spaced, typewritten, specific points. If it’s short enough, they are more likely to look at it after you have left and it will remind them of your more detailed arguments.

Another path to appropriations success is through private conversations with members of boards reviewing requests. You can say things in a two-way conversation that you would hesitate to say in public and sometimes you can prime a board member with arguments he can use to convince other board members. In the world of politics, the surest way to success is to have your cause adopted by the majority leader of any governmental board or legislative house. However, you have to be careful not to develop enemies. You have to try to adopt the posture that the fire service is above party politics and engages the sponsorship of the majority leader because that is the practical way to advance the fire protection of everyone. At the same time, you leave the way open to give the minority leader the privilege of supporting your requests when his party succeeds at the polls and he becomes the majority leader.

Replacement schedule

There is another means of smoothing the road through the appropriations procedure, but you have to develop the system well in advance. Working with the town administration, the fire chief can develop a replacement schedule for apparatus, hose, breathing apparatus and other things that don’t fray at the collar yet need to be replaced because age eventually puts them beyond the realm of reliability. When competently done in cooperation with the town administration, a replacement schedule then becomes a potent reason for buying equipment.

Once in a while—to show you are playing the game not just according to the rules but with consideration for both the taxpayer and the fire department—you let the administration know that this year you are not asking for the scheduled replacement of 3000 feet of hose. You point out that inspection and replacement should be deferred because you are asking for an even larger capital expenditure for which the need is more pressing.

Through well-developed presentations before the reviewing boards, your appropriation request becomes a reality as the town budget is officially adopted. At this time, the chief announces the appointment of purchasing committee members. They are members of his department whom he has been considering for some time and their selection fulfills the requirements we have mentioned in the early part of this article.

Committee organization

At its first meeting, the committee should set the ground rules for accomplishing its major objective—writing specifications. We’ll continue to consider the engine as the item to be purchased. Depending on laws or ordinances governing purchasing by the town, the committee may or may not later be able to recommend the award of the contract to a specific manufacturer—not necessarily the low bidder. In some communities, the contract must go to the low bidder unless adequate reasons can be brought forth to legally rule out the low bidder.

Of course, if the department is buying the apparatus with funds raised through fund drives and other department activities, the department is free to spend its money where it pleases.

The committee has to decide what manufacturers’ representatives it wishes to interview and what departments it wishes to visit to inspect new apparatus. Then it must develop a schedule for hearing sales representatives and visiting other departments. Sometimes the sales rep of a manufacturer the committee has not invited to be heard asks to appear before the committee. The members must then decide whether they wish to give him the time.

Anyone can bid

As far as I know, a purchasing committee does not have to hear any sales rep, but where tax funds are involved in the purchase, there is no way the committee can prevent a manufacturer from submitting a bid. However, as we said earlier, most manufacturers will not bid under such conditions.

Each sales rep should be allowed at least one full session with the purchasing committee. It will usually take about three hours for him to tell his story and for the committee members to question him. In most cases, each sales rep will appear before the committee at least twice and will arrange to make trips to other departments with the committee to show apparatus he has recently delivered.

A cardinal rule is that the sales rep of only one manufacturer participates in any committee meeting or visit to another department.

The salesmen will describe the features of their basic pumper and explain the available options. The committee mentions the features it is considering and with the salesmen, seeks to inspect apparatus in other departments that have these features.

I have never visited a fire department that was not extremely hospitable and cooperative. In visiting both volunteer and paid departments, we have ridden on apparatus to get an idea of differences in engine power and the way different makes of apparatus handle on the road. Our hosts have raised aerial ladders and maneuvered them to our satisfaction. In return, my fire department has done the same thing for purchasing committees from other departments.

During these discussions, you talk prices. How much more will it cost to get a 350-hp diesel instead of a smaller engine? What will optional cabinets forward of the rear axle cost? What is the difference in price between an automatic and a stick-shift transmission?

The sales rep will quote from the manufacturer’s price list for each option and committee members will determine whether the total price of the options added to the price of the basic apparatus is within the appropriation. Any salesman would be extremely happy to sell you the apparatus for the total cost mentioned at this point. That is because his bid price will be somewhat lower. How much lower is something you have to guess.

Once the committee has all the information it needs, it starts to write specifications for the purchase of the engine. There should be one member of the committee who acts as the committee secretary. He should have a complete file of all apparatus literature presented to committee members and notes on information provided by sales reps. The secretary then records the details to be written into the specs as the committee agrees on them by voting.

Inclusion of options

This is where the committee determines the apparatus features it finds most desirable for the department’s requirements and restrains the desire for options to the confines of the appropriation. There is always some guessing as to how many options you can get when the sale rep’s cost estimate is slightly more than your appropriation. The solution is to ask for two or three desirable options to be listed separately in the bid as optional items that the fire department can later delete from the bid if necessary to get the cost of the engine within the appropriation.

In writing the specs, the committee should refer to National Fire Protection Association Standard 1901, “Automotive Fire Apparatus,” and should shun specifying anything that is unreasonable. I can recall a specification for a nightmare of plumbing for suction inlets and at least one major manufacturer’s representative preferred to avoid that headache. Specifying highly unusual engineering projects will cost you an amount of money that is probably not worth it and may cost you bids that you would like to have from some manufacturers.

Before starting to write the first draft of the specifications, the committee has to make a couple of important decisions. Should they be what is called performance specifications—which describe what the apparatus shall be capable of doing in the way of pumping, acceleration on level surfaces, hill-climbing ability, maximum speed, etc.—or should they specify the engine horse power, model of pumpe, etc.? Whatever you decide, apparatus specifications all must detail information about such things as number of compartments, hose bed divisions and capacities, emergency lights and audible warning devices, and water tank capacity.

Open or closed specs

The committee also will have to decide whether the specifications should be open to all manufacturers or whether one or more manufacturers should be frozen out by specifying some conditions they cannot meet. There is a legal question to be considered and the committee must know the municipal purchasing policy.

The receipt of at least three bids will satisfy most purchasing agents, but the committee has to be careful in buying with public tax money that a manufacturer is not written out for frivolous reasons. However, in communities where there is a good relationship between the town administration and the volunteer fire department, the administration will do its best to accommodate the desires of the purchasing committee.

The committee now studies the first draft of the specifications. It is a good idea to go over the specs at a meeting and then let the committee members take the specs home and review them at their leisure before calling another meeting to put the specs in their final form.

With the approval of the purchasing committee, the chief then gives the specifications to the municipal purchasing officer, who should review them for any conflict with laws, ordinances or municipal purchasing policy.

After he has accepted the specifications, the purchasing officer then advertises for bids in a local newspaper.

Selecting bidders

When a volunteer department is buying anything on bid with its own funds, it is easy to see that only acceptable firms bid. You simply send your specs and invitations to bid only to those firms and if others ask, you frankly tell them that you are not interested in getting a proposal from them.

If your department has to ask for bids through the municipal purchasing officer, provide the names of three or more suppliers along with your specifications. That will satisfy the usual desire for a minimum of three bids and it will ensure prompt forwarding of the specs to the firms you would like to see bid.

I know of one incident when the purchasing agent sent resuscitator specs to a dealer he picked out of the wild blue yonder. Unfortunately, this dealer made the lowest bid and received the contract. However, this dealer could buy the resuscitator only from one distributor—who was the second lowest bidder and was willing to sell to the dealer only at the same price he gave the town. The result was that the item had to be rebid nearly a year after the original opening of bids.

When the item at bid involves custom features or options that require engineering to determine a price, such as apparatus and stations, the representatives of most firms appreciate being told that a fire department would prefer not to get a bid from them. The preparation of bid proposals for apparatus, for example, takes a good deal of time and is a costly process. Sales people are not desirous of seeing a lot of time and money go into a bid that is doomed to rejection.

You will also find that sales reps will shun you if they feel that your department is oriented toward a single manufacturer. Although only one manufacturer of apparatus may be represented in your department, this may be the year you are willing to look at the virtues of other manufacturers. If this is so, then it may be necessary to explain that the specs will be open to several manufacturers and their proposals will be judged impartially.

Options for volunteers

While paid departments have to purchase equipment and supplies through the bid process if the item cost is below a legislated figure, usually $500 or $1000—on the open market with a purchase order, volunteer fire departments go these two routes plus a third. This last route is used by volunteers who spend funds they have raised themselves to buy equipment.

Apparatus Purchasing Process

Determine need

1. Document need with data

Obtain estimate of cost

1. Request appropriation in town budget

Explain need before municipal boards

1. Or ask appropriation from department funds

1. Approval of appropriation in municipal budget
2. Or by volunteer fire department meeting
3. Appointment of purchasing committee
4. Development of specifications by committee

Visits to other fire departments to view equipment

1. Meetings with manufacturers’ representatives or dealers
2. Determination of equipment features most suitable for department’s needs
3. Selection of options in light of amount of appropriation

1. Invitations to bid and specificatlons sent to preferred suppliers
2. Advertisement of request for bids
3. Opening of bids
4. Study of bids
5. Evaulation of compliance with specifications
6. Consideration of exceptions
7. Selection of best bid
8. Award of contract or issuance of purchase order
9. Consultations during building of apparatus
10. Visit to plant to view progress, decide questions that may arise
11. Delivery of apparatus
12. Acceptance tests
13. Payment for apparatus

Inasmuch as municipal funds are not involved, volunteers spending their own money—none of which was raised by any form of tax levy—choose to ask for bids or buy on the open market. However, this option is not as flexible as it may seem because of the moral obligation to spend department funds in a manner that will keep the door closed to any criticism. Therefore, volunteers should pretty much follow the purchasing rules governing municipal funds and call for bids when expensive equipment is to be bought.

An exception could be a four-figure item that is unique in its field or that the department members regard as so desirable that they will not consider a competitor. In this situation, some negotiating may be done with the salesman, but the negotiating edge is dulled by the knowledge of both parties that the item eventually is going to be bought. The vote of the volunteers at a department meeting reduces criticism of the purchase price.

When buying items that cost more than a few dollars and yet not enough to require formal bids, the department should obtain prices from three suppliers. Most municipalities make this procedure mandatory, but it is a desirable practice even when a volunteer department is spending its own money. What do we mean by “a few dollars”? In these days, $100 might be reasonably regarded as the breaking point between buying directly from one supplier and going the three-price route.

Opening of bids

Before setting a date for the opening of bids, sales reps should be asked how long it will take them to prepare bids. Manufacturers of apparatus generally like to have two to three weeks in which to work up their bid proposals.

Whether the bids are handled through the municipal purchasing system or entirely by a volunteer fire department, all bids should be opened at the same time.

Municipal policies differ in detail, but the ideal system is for the town purchasing agent to give the opened bids to the purchasing committee for review and recommendations. There is generally no problem when you receive bids for supplying a number of units of “model QW-105-A” breathing apparatus, but when you review bids on fire apparatus, you generally find that each manufacturer will take one or more exceptions. Or a manufacturer may include an option in his proposal to bid.

The purchasing committee looks at the bids for compliance with the specifications, determines which options—if any—in the specifications and the proposal can be accepted under the appropriation and the committee comes up with a recommendation for the award of the contract to a specific manufacturer. If the purchasing policy requires the award of the contract to the lowest bidder, then that bidder can be rejected only for cause. The committee then has to cite specific reasons why that bid should not be accepted.

Overseeing construction

The work of the purchasing committee does not end with the award of the contract to build the apparatus. While our engine is being built, the committee should remain available to answer any questions the manufacturer may have as the specifications go through his engineering department and the engine starts to take shape on the factory floor.

Where it is possible for the committee—or some member of it—to visit the factory, it is a good idea to do so. Because the designs of different makes of pumpers and other apparatus vary, it may be impossible to specify where certain equipment will be mounted, and the specifications may state that after the award of the contract, the manufacturer and the purchasing committee, or fire department, will come to an agreement on the location of such equipment. There also are times when the manufacturer’s interpretation of an item in the specs varies from that of the committee. A visit to the factory can iron out this situation—frequently before construction has reached a point where a change is a major problem.

Visits to the factory also can give the purchasing committee an opportunity to check on compliance with the specifications as well as to come to an agreement with the manufacturer on any diversity from the specs that may be beneficial. Whether there will be a charge for the change will depend on how it affects the manufacturer’s costs and convenience. Once a contract has been signed, a committee cannot order changes that cost additional money without coming up with that money, either from the volunteer fire department’s own funds or by obtaining an additional town appropriation.

Acceptance of apparatus

Upon the delivery of the apparatus to the fire department, the purchasing committee should then oversee the conduct of acceptance tests specified in the contract and check the apparatus against the specifications. It’s advisable to take a copy of the specifications and check each item in the specs by inspecting that item on the apparatus.

After the successful completion of the acceptance tests and the check of the specifications against the apparatus, the committee can make a recommendation to the municipal purchasing officer to pay the manufacturer. If one or more items are not satisfactory, then some— or all—the money is held up until the condition is rectified.

If the volunteer fire department is spending its own money, then the recommendation for payment to the manufacturer will be made to the department meeting, or to the treasurer if the meeting has authorized him to pay upon recommendation of the committee.

At this point, the purchasing committee is discharged from its duties— probably about after a year of demanding but challenging and interesting work.