Want to fast-track your procurement for demand response services? Via is available through 791 Purchasing Cooperative

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!