Due Diligence Part 7: How Can I Buy It

This is one question that you may never really need to know, but if you do, it can make all your due diligence efforts worthwhile.

Can you get equipment the way you need to?

Another really important question to ask, if you’re responsible for purchasing equipment for a municipality, is whether the vendor makes its products available through the channels you’re required to use. More and more public works departments are coming under blanket laws that require them to use online purchasing cooperative interfaces, commonly referred to as “buy boards.” https://hgacbuy.com

If you’re one of them, you want to make sure the equipment you spec in your capital expenditures is available for purchase through this channel, or you can find yourself disappointed when it’s time to issue the purchase order. Increasingly, manufacturers serious about competing in the marketplace understand that they need to have a presence on these boards.

Although lack of such a presence doesn’t automatically disqualify a vendor from consideration, it should raise concerns about how committed they are about maintaining a serious, long-term presence in the industry.

Read the Rest of the Articles in This Series on Due Diligence: What You Don't Know, CAN Hurt You:

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/due-diligence-part-6-help-when-you-need-suzan-marie-chin-taylor/