When you work with cities and transit agencies as much as we do, you know that procurement is a fact of life. And while many procurement leaders have written successful RFPs for TransitTech, many others struggle to muster the resources — and find the time — to do the research, drafting, and contract work required to run a procurement for a brand-new type of transit service.
There’s a better way, with collective purchasing agreements like those facilitated by 791Coop. 791Coop conducts competitive, rigorous and FTA-Compliant procurements on behalf of its members. Any member — and membership is free and open to entities across the United States — can then leverage the resulting contracts for quick, competitively-priced access to goods and services.
Following such a procurement, Via’s software and operations services are now available to any member organization that wants to launch with the country’s leading provider of microtransit and other demand-responsive services. 791Coop can get you from idea to launch in a matter of weeks, and with a lot less hassle.
How can purchasing through 791Coop save time and money?
Cooperative purchasing through an entity like 791Coop saves time and money in three primary ways:
- Guarantees FTA-compliance. Via’s contract with 791Coop is fully FTA-compliant, which means that purchasing Via through this mechanism is one of the fastest and most cost-effective ways to satisfy FTA requirements for microtransit.
- Avoids the time and expense associated with traditional, individual procurement processes. Joining 791Coop is a simple process, and significantly less onerous than designing, issuing, and evaluating your own RFP process. The time from idea to contract can be cut to weeks, rather than months.
- Achieves more advantageous, volume-based pricing arrangements. Through a collective agreement, you’ll likely access more advantageous contract pricing than you could achieve negotiating directly with a vendor. When vendors go through a collective process, they can extend volume-based discounts that they would not otherwise be able to offer, particular to smaller cities and transit agencies.
What now?
If you’d like to learn more by speaking with a member of our team, reach out!
