Our goal was to identify the best overall contract that would provide Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS) the best service, pricing, savings, and term period. Our rationale in approaching national suppliers was based on the premise that standard office supply commodities' best pricing is driven by volume and, although HCPS volume is significant, it does not compare to contract pricing provided by state or national cooperative agreements that can be five to fifty times our volume.  

 HCPS approached four national suppliers:  Office Depot, Office Max, Staples, and Independent Stationers. They were asked to supply information from existing large volume office supply contracts and suggest the best overall agreement offering the best pricing and service from which to piggyback.  We utilized HCPS 2009/2010 school year purchase history from Office Depot for comparison purposes and updated pricing as of December 2010.  HCPS total 2009/2010 office supply expenditures were $7,808,260, with over 14,000 items purchased.  Of those 14,000 items, over 8,000 were under $100 per item and were considered immaterial.  

 (Executive Summary continued on attached)