Last year, at a gathering of city managers in Texas, we asked the audience a simple question: Who needs some help with their procurement? Julie Couch, Fairview’s city manager, raised her hand and explained that her town was struggling to develop a bid for an overhaul of the city’s water metering infrastructure.
TXShare, the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) and the Alliance for Innovation (AFI) worked with Julie Couch and her team to rapidly put together an RFP specification out for tender. The resulting nationwide cooperative contract, already awarded to pre-vetted suppliers, is now live on Civic Marketplace for other agencies to benefit from.
During our webinar on 24th September, Julie Couch will be in conversation with NCTCOG’s Diane Palmer-Boeck and Jonathan Blackman, sharing Fairview’s collaboration journey to cut its procurement timeline and deliver a better service for its citizens.
They’ll be discussing the development of the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) cooperative contract which provides solutions for diverse water distribution systems, communication technologies and data management requirements through access to some of the country’s top suppliers.
Small local governments shouldn’t have to shoulder all their procurement challenges alone, and collaboration between entities can save time and money, and deliver better services for everyone.
Join our webinar to learn actionable strategies that your city, county, or agency can apply to strengthen your procurement process, build supplier relationships, and maximize resources.
Meet the Speakers
Jonathan Blackman
Jonathan Blackman is the Assistant Director of Agency Administration at the North Central Texas Council of Governments where he oversees the organization’s cooperative purchasing program (TXShare) and various administrative procurement, contracting, and operations functions.
Julie Couch
With over 30 years in city government, Julie previously served as City Manager in Rockwall for 18 years before joining Fairview.
Diane Palmer-Boeck
Diane plays a pivotal role in the TXShare cooperative purchasing program, an initiative that helps municipalities access regional procurement contracts, especially when they don’t have internal procurement departments.
