Our Mission
About Our Group
The Continuity of Supply Initiative (CoSI) is a loosely-knit group of public procurement thought leaders who are committed to assuring that supply contracts for critically-needed goods and services will not fail in future global and other widespread emergencies. CoSI, which functions as an informal think tank and advocacy group, includes current and former public procurement officials, educators, and business people who have resolved that failed governmental supply contracts will never again contribute to so much harm being done to so many people, as was the case during the COVID-19 pandemic.
CoSI’s premise is that the enormous combined spend of federal, state, and local governments – both collectively, and in individual goods and services categories -- can be leveraged to incentivize suppliers to enter into resilient contractual agreements and to honor those agreements in all circumstances.
Achieving the necessary leverage will require contracting agencies to include sufficient commitments to buy in their solicitations. A single contracting agency might be able by itself to create sufficient leverage, or it might be necessary for several contracting agencies to combine their requirements through true cooperative procurement.
CoSI is currently crafting a model framework that individual agencies, jurisdictions, and other organizations will be able to use as an aid when planning, designing, sourcing, forming and administering national-level master agreements that will assure the supply of critically-needed goods and services in global and other widespread emergencies.
Our Group
Members of the CoSI Group:
Stephen B. (Steve) Gordon, PhD, FNIGP, CPPO
Norma J. Hall, FNIGP, CPPO, CPPB, CPM
David P. Gragan, MS, CPPO, Fellow NAPA
Harold (Hal) Good, CPPO
John Walters, MBA
Terry McKee, MPA, CPPO, CPPB, C.P.M.
Elizabeth (Beth) Dooley, CPPO, CPPB
Paul Brennan, FNIGP, CPPO
Dustin Lanier, CPPO
Darin Matthews, FNIGP, CPPO,CPSM, C.P.M., NIGP-CPP
Frank Spampinato
Lourdes Coss, MPA, CPPO
Nathan Myers, PhD,
Jason Soza, CSSBB, CPPO, CPPB
Bill Davison, CPPO
Ana-Maria Dimond, PhD
Sawsan Abutabenjeh, PhD
Peter Levitsky, CPSM
The individuals who comprise the CoSI steering group are volunteers and receive no financial or other improper benefit from their participation in the initiative.
NOTE: Names and Bios will be attached and can be accessed through the MORE button below. Still a work in progress.
Our Strategy
The elements of our strategy:
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Resilient "nationwide" master agreements, through unprecedented levels, scopes, and types of collaboration.
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Collaboration in each category will occur within and among the manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, service providers, supply chain specialists, state and local procurement officials, end-users, and other SMEs and stakeholders in the particular category.
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The set of diverse participants to be involved in the collaboration in each category will be referred to collectively as the “state and local procurement network for [name of goods/services category]."
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The master agreement(s) must be formed through true cooperative procurement, meaning that the state and local entities that intend to use the master agreement(s) must commit up-front .using the master agreement to fulfill its requirements during widespread emergencies.
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The lead agencies in each category will use the competitive sealed proposals/competitive negotiation method of source selection to form the agreement(s).
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The Steering Group has selected medical equipment and supplies as the category for an initial pilot/proof of concept.
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The unprecedented level and scope of collaboration within and among the various sets of members of the state and local procurement network for medical equipment and supplies begin soon.
“TOGETHER WE REACH THE GOAL"
