Graybar wins US Communities contract

Graybar, St. Louis, MO, has been awarded an exclusive, five-year contract worth millions in sales a year to provide electrical supplies to state and local governments, school districts, and other tax-funded agencies who are participants in the U. S. Communities program.

The contract was awarded by Los Angeles County, CA and will be made available to public agencies nationwide through the U.S. Communities Government Purchasing Alliance, the nation's largest local government buying cooperative, which was established in 1999. The Association of School Business Officials International (ASBO), the National Association of Counties (NACo), the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing (NIGP), the National League of Cities, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors are national founding co-sponsors of U.S. Communities.

U.S. Communities enables state and local government agencies to pool their collective purchasing power and improve the overall effectiveness of their purchasing processes. It is a non-profit instrumentality of government formed under U.S. Code, Title 26, Internal Revenue Code, to assist public agencies. The contract with Graybar enables purchasing managers, installers, and other representatives of public agencies to buy thousands of electrical products - ranging from wiring, conduit, and circuit breakers to lighting fixtures, outlets, and switches. More than 7,000 local, county, and state governments, school districts, and other tax-funded entities currently access U.S. Communities, which reports it has saved taxpayers millions of dollars since its inception.

Graybar was awarded the contract following a comprehensive competitive solicitation process, in which the company won based on its total value proposition. In most cases, the established rate fulfills the "highest and best bid" requirements for state and local governments, schools and other tax-funded organizations and non-profit agencies. Graybar also holds an exclusive contract for communications and data products under the U.S. Communities program, thereby offering public agencies a full range of products distributed by Graybar.

"Graybar is building a foundation for long-term sustainability with U.S. Communities, one of the biggest purchasing cooperative organizations in the country," said Jeff Cook, vice president, Government Sales. "We're very excited about the opportunities this new contract provides and the fact it offers savings for taxpayers coast-to-coast."

The new Electrical Supplies contract is available for immediate use by public agencies nationwide. Additionally, the contract is designed to extend its offering to all 501(c)3 nonprofit agencies that provide services on behalf of governmental entities, such as tax-funded schools, health and welfare organizations.

"Our leading-edge logistics capabilities are raising the bar on value and performance for our customers, which have long included state and local public agencies," said Cook, who added that U.S. Communities sales can be made online All Graybar products covered under the U.S. Communities program can be purchased online at www.graybar.com or locally across the country at the more than 250 Graybar branches across the country.

In addition to significant price discounts, benefits for public agencies and qualifying nonprofits under U.S. Communities include: Streamlined purchasing by eliminating the need for three separate bids for electrical and comm./data equipment, access to Graybar's approximately $500 million inventory at more than 250 U.S. branch warehouses, same-day or next-day delivery via Graybar's nationwide supply chain network The pricing discounts, delivery and service conditions, and the contract terms are available to any local government that is allowed to piggyback on another government agency's competitively solicited contract. Since all contracts are discretionary, local governments determine how much they want to use the program.

The program has no membership, fees or other charges. An Advisory Board comprised of city, county, and school district purchasing agents from across the nation governs U.S. Communities. School districts, municipalities, and all other public agencies are invited to register for the U.S. Communities program by accessing the U.S. Communities Web site at http://www.uscommunities.org/. For more information about Graybar's product offerings and related services through the U.S. Communities program, call toll-free 1-877-827-5517 or e-mail Graybar at uscommunities@gbe.com.