NEW YORK CITY – New York City has issued a request for proposal (RFP) for an outside vendor to provide just-in-time automotive parts room operation service, including warehouse storage and distribution, for a period of five years. The vendor would provide parts for City agencies that currently own, maintain, and repair a fleet of vehicles and/or equipment and have a working parts room. The City said it’s looking for the services provided by the outside vendor to cover all personnel, management, and reporting systems.
In-house repair services for New York City’s fleet of more than 26,000 vehicles are carried out at 160 different facilities throughout the City. Mayor Bloomberg called for ways to streamline City departments and services after a report issued in July of 2010, according to Mark Daly (Director of Communications, NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services.
Currently, City agencies use a range of different parts facilities. The RFP explained that some have a central maintenance facility where vehicles are serviced and needed parts are kept and other agencies have un-staffed parts rooms. Larger City agencies use a central maintenance warehouse operation that feeds into borough shops, and those shops then feed into even smaller facilities.
“The spark for this in New York City was both a call from Mayor Bloomberg at the beginning of 2010 and a report in July 2010,” Daly said. “It was based on several months of analysis across the various government operations. Altogether, it identified opportunities for the City to save up to $500M across different departments through a variety of efficiency initiatives. But one of the areas the report specifically identified was parts management. It stated there was an opportunity to save over $8M, based on the high-level analysis.”
The City hopes to receive cost-effective proposals from vendors that will allow it to eliminate the inventory carrying costs associated with buying, storing, and managing parts for the fleet, Daly explained.
The RFP states the City intends to focus on consolidating fleet administration during the term of the contract (i.e. the next five years), and that any contractor whose proposal the City accepts would be expected to accommodate and assist in the City’s efforts.
Lastly, the RFP specifies regular review meetings between the contract administrator, agency designee, and project manager at each site managed by the vendor to address the overall parts supply operation.
According to Daly, proposals from vendors are due June 8 at 2 p.m. local time. Vendors can learn how to download a copy of the RFP by visiting the City’s official publication site for procurement notices at www.nyc.gov/cityrecord.
