The financial health & well-being of an organization, especially when it comes to their purchasing, is a critical component to their success. Making wise investments with capital & operational expenditures (capex & opex) means that procuring vital products/services will not put an organization in a financially-handicapped situation. What’s more, products/services procured by an organization must also meet important compliance standards.
Important Questions To Answer
Ensuring that there is bang-for-buck AND regulatory compliance is not always easy. Unless, of course, an organization is a part of TIPS/TAPS. Such a revelation, however impressive though, will spark some questions. For example:
What do the acronyms TIPS/TAPS actually stand for? TIPS stands for The Interlock Purchasing System, and TAPS stands for the Texas Arkansas Purchasing Systems. While the scope of what these organizations do is quite large, they are, in essence, a cooperative purchasing program. The organization maintains a database of vendors in the thousands with the aim of providing vetted & trustworthy purchasing partners for all manner of entity.
Who can make use of TIPS/TAPS? Schools (both private & public), colleges, universities, and a range of governmental offices can use TIPS/TAPS. These are the types of organizations & offices that must maintain financial records denoting bid processes and stringent adherence to both capital & operational expenditures as laid out by governing bodies. Proposal evaluations are done according to a structured rubric. Vendors who meet these standards & are recommended to prospective purchasers have made agreements to provide members optimal pricing & terms.
What is the main goal of TIPS/TAPS? While providing a tremendous financial advantage in purchasing to a number of entities across a variety of products/services is central to TIPS/TAPS, perhaps the highest priority of the organization is compliance. Any entity is impacted based on their purchasing (capex or opex) is meeting or exceeding local, state, and federal standards.
Is TIPS/TAPS a one-stop show for all information pertinent to purchasing & proposals? With respect to meeting or exceeding standards, it also must be noted that TIPS/TAPS expressly dictates that:
“It is the responsibility of the member agency to ensure that all state purchasing regulations are being satisfied by the interlocal Agreement or other documents as required by their state procurement process”.
These same member agencies must also stay abreast of changes in legislation that could impact industry-related standards and best practices that may not yet be reflected in vendor proposals.
Contact our team here at ACIS to learn more about our place in TIPS/TAPS today.
