Procurement and Financing

Purchasing a fire truck can be a daunting task!  It takes effort and intentionality to ensure the vehicle fits the needs of your department and to be efficient with tax payer money.  

Three Primary Methods of the Buying Process

1. Cooperative Purchasing – an up and coming method of buying that cuts right to the heart of the matter and eliminates a lot of paperwork.  There are two major players in the US: Sourcewell and HGAC.  These organizations work with their vendors (including Rosenbauer) to establish pricing guidelines to which the vendor must adhere. For those of you from Michigan, it is the equivalent of the “State Bid” that is used so commonly. 
   • PROS: this eliminates a lot of meetings and evaluation time.  It is a no-charge service to the community that allows a community to work with their preferred vendor.
   • CONS: none.
2. Request for Proposal (RFP) – an informal process of obtaining information from several potential vendors. A fire department compiles a basic list of truck requirements and sends to these vendors.  The list can be as basic as “We have an immediate need for a Top Mount Pumper” with 10 bullet points of must-haves (e.g., 1000 gallons) or a detailed list of requirements for a custom build.
   • PROS: fairly easy to put the list together.
   • CONS: much more difficult to evaluate and compare.  Proposals will have much more variety and therefore, take much longer to process.
3. Sealed Bid – a formal process to obtain specifications and pricing.  A fire department compiles a set of specifications to which each vendor indicates a response of YES/NO. Sealed Bids have a “due by” time and date.  Bids are then opened and read aloud. The fire department then reviews and compares them to determine if the low bid is acceptable.
   • PROS: sending a detailed list of specs to vendors makes it much less time consuming than an RFP.
   • CONS: Time consuming to establish the list of specs. Returned bids will take time to compare and evaluate.  With a strict purchasing policy, and/or weak specs sent out to vendors, the community could be pushed into accepting a truck they may not want. 

Financing

Because truck prices have risen rapidly the last few years, many communities are find that a Lease Purchase Program will save them money in the long run. The program can vary in length (even as short as one year) and can allow for flexibility in early pay-off.  If there are existing funds to go towards the project, there is no need to finance the whole amount.