STATE SHIFTS PURCHASING FROM LOCAL VENDORS TO INDIANAPOLIS
With funds from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA), the LHDC Weatherization Program is growing by 6 times its current size in Crawford and Perry County and is projected to serve 155 households between now and May 31, 2010. Unfortunately the State of Indiana , Governor Mitch Daniels and the Indiana Housing & Community Development Authority (IHCDA), have placed some contractor/vendor restrictions on LHDC.
Following is IHCDA program Guidance AR-09-01 that requires LHDC to purchase ALL FURNACES, WATER HEATHERS AND INSULATION from the State’s central purchasing system.
INDIANA HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
Indiana Home Energy Conservation - Program Guidance AR-09-01
Background : Historically the State of Indiana weatherization program has left purchasing decisions for materials installed in homes to the discretion of designated sub-grantees. With the extraordinary about funding from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA), the Governor saw an opportunity to use the State's bulk buying power to gain significant savings on the high-cost and high-volume materials purchased with Home Energy Conservation (HEC) Program dollars. As a result, Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority (IHCDA) and the Indiana Department of Administration (IDOA) have developed relationships with several manufacturers of HEC products to provide opportunities for sub-grantees throughout the State to access high-quality HEC materials at substantial cost savings to the Program. To that end, IHCDA and IDOA have created a central purchasing process by which sub-grantees can access furnaces, water heaters, and insulation. By entering agreements with Trane (furnaces), Koch Air (Carrier furnaces), Energy Control (cellulose insulation), Knauf (fiberglass insulation), Fastenal (water heaters) and Langham Logistics (product ordering and delivery), we are working to ensure a seamless transition to the new central purchasing system.
Policy : All purchases of furnaces, water heaters, and insulation made with ARRA funding will require the use of the States central purchasing process. The centralization of purchasing will allow sub-grantees to access products from respected manufacturers at a significantly reduced cost through the State's bulk purchasing power. After receiving appropriate training, sub-grantees will be able to order product directly from Langham Logistics' web-based ordering system, or through its call center, and have product delivered within their designated delivery time to specified delivery sites throughout the State. Materials necessary for the HEC Program that are not available through the State's centralized purchasing agreements may be purchased through local suppliers or provided by contractors on-site. Langham will prepare reports for and invoice sub-grantees for these products with sufficient detail to allow tracking product to the delivery site and if different, the address of the home being weatherized.
Effective Date : All HEC Program sub-grantees will be required to utilize the State central purchasing method no later than September 10, 2009 , unless otherwise directed by IHCDA. Guidance regarding formal training in advance of this "start date" will be forthcoming. Until that date, sub-grantees may continue to use existing purchasing methods.
LHDC regrets this action because LHDC believes it is bad public policy for the local, small businesses that previously sold these products, however LHDC has no choice but to implement in order to operate the weatherization program.
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