How Your School System Benefits from Purchasing Co-Ops

Purchasing for public organizations like school systems has never been an easy process. In the government and public sphere, transparency is critical, and every taxpayer dollar counts.

The typical purchasing process for many products and solutions has been through an RFQ or RFP (Request for Quotation or Proposal) process. As most familiar with these processes know, these methods can be long and cumbersome in either government or private enterprise. When a solution is needed sooner rather than later, this type of process can hinder making the required investments for critical infrastructure for more secure school campuses in San Antonio and other Texas cities.

In Texas, purchasing co-ops have been developed to streamline the purchasing process. For example, the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) has been serving local governments for 40 years with purchasing services. TIPS (The Interlocal Purchasing System) is another purchasing cooperative that started in 2002 out of Region 8 in Texas and has expanded throughout the state and nationally.

Co-ops have helped small and large school districts alike to pool purchasing power and streamline processes. They vet vendors, establish competitively priced blanket contracts for goods and services, and provide valuable and time-saving methods for making purchases.

ASAP Security is proud to have been selected as a key security technology vendor for both TIPS and H-GAC, allowing us to offer our solutions to school districts with minimized friction and the knowledge that that district is getting top value for its designated budget. Read on for examples of solutions you can purchase through the co-op process.

SEE MORE: Why Your Grade School Security is So Important

Video Surveillance

Protect your staff, students, buildings, and valuable equipment and supplies with smart video surveillance systems. Camera systems can be an effective deterrent against vandalism, theft, intrusion, and other things you want to prevent.

Mass Communication Systems

Today’s technology allows for many forms of communication. Mass communication systems take a multi-platform approach to alerts, especially for emergency and critical situations. Situational messages - like fire, intrusion, weather emergencies, and more - can be developed ahead of time along with instructions for how to proceed and delivered quickly to computers, smartphones, digital displays, and more. Two-way communication lets others report situations to staff and initiate faster responses to mitigate threats.

Gunshot Communication Systems

School shootings have been an all too unfortunate reality in Texas and the U.S. Fortunately, gunshot detection technology has become much more affordable, and provides schools the ability to react quickly in those extreme events. The ability to save minutes in getting law enforcement to the scene of an active shooter situation can mean the difference between life and death.

ASAP Security Services is ready to help your school district with state of the art security technology solutions to protect one of our most critical assets – the education system.  And with our participation in co-op purchasing organizations, obtaining these solutions becomes much more manageable. Set up a consultation with our team by calling (877) 418-ASAP, filling out our contact form, or starting a live chat with us below. We look forward to working with you!