The Alliance for Innovation, Batteries Plus, and Edge Public are partnering to offer public-sector agencies an easy-to-use platform of vendors and technology that company officials said can offer up to 30 percent savings.
“This contract is a perfect demonstration of how public procurement innovation can deliver benefits to every part of the ecosystem,” Troy Riggs, Alliance executive director, said in a statement. “By partnering with Batteries Plus, we are not only helping agencies to streamline purchasing and reduce costs, we’re making it easier for them to support local economies.”
The procurement platform, open to state, county and municipal governments, educational institutions and nonprofits, is supported by Civic Marketplace, which has also teamed with the North Central Texas Council of Governments on a similar offering for that group’s members.
“Local governments and school districts are under pressure to do more with fewer resources,” Al Hleileh, CEO and co-founder of Civic Marketplace, said via email. “Agencies increasingly want procurement processes that are faster, easier, and more transparent, while also ensuring competitive pricing.”
Batteries Plus, which provides specialty batteries and lighting, has more than 700 franchise locations across the U.S., allowing agencies to contract with businesses in their community.
“This contract generates meaningful business opportunities for our local franchise owners, while also delivering significant savings to public agencies,” Brandon Boozer, director of government and industrial sales at Batteries Plus, said in a statement. “We’re excited to provide efficient, reliable solutions for lighting, power, and device repair through this agreement.”
Battery storage is becoming an area of increasing interest to cities and other organizations as they search for green energy storage solutions and demands on the electric grid intensify.
“We are transitioning as [a] country, and globally, from [an] oil and gas economy to an electrified economy. It’s going to happen over the next five, 10, 25 years. And you’re going to see more and more,” Rich Stinson, president and CEO of Southwire, a maker of electric wiring and cable used in the electrical and communications industry, said during a call with reporters in April, as he cited electric demand from data centers, vehicles, ports and other areas. “The bottom line is demand cannot exceed supply.”
Energy and storage projects are “highly technical and evolving rapidly,” Hleileh said. “Many agencies lack in-house expertise to evaluate complex specifications, long-term life cycle costs, or rapidly changing technologies.”
This is where cooperative agreements and shared expertise become essential, technology officials said.
“They help agencies to avoid reinventing the wheel on every bid,” Hleileh said. “By leaning on these agreements, agencies can tap into vetted suppliers, proven scopes, and aggregated knowledge that give them confidence in their procurement decisions.”
