"It has been a great experience not only with NEO|SO but also the salt vendor. I look forward to becoming more involved with the organization in the future."

~Dan Marling – Currently with Ashtabula City Schools, formerly with Nordonia Hills City Schools

NEO|SO develops group purchasing programs for both products (such as auto parts and bulk road salt) and services (such as telecommunication audits and insurance). Our objectives in developing new programs are to deliver cost savings, time savings, and value-added services to our Members.

Through our experience, the NEO|SO team has developed a sophisticated Idea Generation Filter to sort through the hundreds of potential programs and identify the best opportunities to pursue.

We identify potential programs to evaluate in close cooperation with our Members and the supplier community. We listen, ask questions, and conduct extensive research. We constantly seek feedback and input as to what the opportunities are for us to pursue and where we can add value.

We also conduct research and interview vendors and suppliers. Where are there opportunities to optimize the procurement process? What cost-avoidance practices can we implement? In what ways can we make the supplier-public sector entity relationship more effective and less expensive?

Once we’ve committed to develop a new program, we recruit a Sourcing Committee of Member representatives to help guide the procurement process. Sourcing Committee participants contribute valuable insights, help shape the bid specifications, and identify opportunities to incorporate value-added services. They also commit their organization’s spend to the new program, which establishes credibility in the supplier world.

NEO|SO manages the public sector procurement process, works with each Sourcing Committee to identify the lowest and best supplier, and establishes a contract with the winning supplier. Then, through our legal structure as a Council of Governments, each NEO|SO Member is eligible to utilize that contract, save time, and save money.