About the Consortium
Consortium History
Challenges
"Re-inventing the wheel" is a constant nemesis of public administrators, particularly hard-working facility
managers. What if public facility managers could save time and money by consistently doing things right the first
time? If there was a central clearinghouse, focal point and resource brokerage designed specifically for facility
managers, would it foster intergovernmental teamwork and result in efficiencies and cost savings? Could a
consortium of like minded professionals be created to optimize the strengths of members, solve problems in a
collaborative way and include outright resource sharing and creation of an expert labor pool? Finally, could such
a program be completely self-sustaining and member driven? Could public collaborative facilities management
actually be made a reality?
The Reality
The answer to the above questions is yes. Since 1995, the public staff in the State of Washington has validated
the theory and made it a reality. This innovative, self-sustaining program combines technology and operational
services to enhance public facilities stewardship and serves as "resource central" for myriad solutions and
opportunities.
A core staff supports the Plant Operations Support Consortium and serves to coordinate, link, broker, research,
advise and facilitate the various issues and requests of its members. On any given day, staff will field requests
from members looking for surplus furniture, equipment or materials; manage numerous construction projects;
provide guidance, tips and insight on a variety of energy-related topics; research for solutions to specific
physical plant problems; or locate hard-to-find, outdated system components.
The Beginning
The Plant Operations Support Consortium was conceived in the fall of 1995 in response to a statewide survey on
facilities management issues. Its creation was a collaborative effort between the Washington State Department of
General Administration (GA) and the Capital Policy and Communication Committee and was sponsored by the
Washington State Office of Financial Management.
In January 1996, GA helped cultivate the program further by sponsoring a pilot demonstration. Shortly after the
pilot program began, Consortium membership included six Washington State agencies, two community colleges and
three counties. Within a few months, officials of the Alaska State Department of Transportation and State
Facilities found it in their best interest to join, becoming the first non-Washington state agency to do so.
Leaders of state agencies, educational arenas, and municipalities used scarce funds to seed the program in
expectation of greater efficiencies and effectiveness. In its pilot year, the Consortium exceeded all
expectations, saving its members more than $450,000 in outright resource savings or avoided labor.
After unanimous passage in both houses of the Legislature, House Bill 1066, sponsored by Washington State
Representatives Frank Chopp and John Pennington, was signed into law by Governor Gary Locke in March 1997.
Bridging the Gaps
After it was created in 1995, the POS Consortium has established itself as an innovative, unique program that
bridges the gaps between sometimes isolated public agencies. The Consortium provides opportunities for school
districts, community colleges, colleges/universities, ports, state governments, Canadian provincial governments,
tribal governments and non-profit/not-for-profit agencies to be linked together to offer their resources and to
benefit from collective experiences and lessons-learned.
The primary goal of the program continues to be finding ways to better utilize public sector expertise and
resources to extend the "lives" of tax-supported or non-profit facilities and save dollars. Each member is a
valuable resource to POS staff, bringing their own expertise and experiences to the Consortium's clearinghouse
environment. The ability of the POS staff to know each and every one of the Consortium's members and to maintain
close and frequent contact is crucial to the sharing of information among members.
Membership
Joining the Consortium is easy. Any public or non-profit/not-for-profit organization that is willing to
participate, contribute, and interact with Consortium members and staff is welcomed whole-heartedly. Simple
membership contracts and "Scopes of Work" are effected with public agencies as they join and a fixed fee schedule
is determined after assessing the size and the number of operational sites of the requesting agency.
For some potential members, the benefits sound too good to be true, so the Consortium offers the following
guarantee: "If you don't receive full value from the program, we'll float your membership free until you do." It
sounds like a difficult promise to live up to, but for the POS staff, it's all in a day's work. Time and time
again, the program has been able to save its members two to five times the amount of their subscription in just
one transaction. That's a statement facility managers understand.
Attributions
All of that aside, the best recognition the Consortium can receive is praise from its members. This is what some
of them are saying:
“The Consortium worked the purchasing of our entire fleet and saved us more than $45 thousand. If we need
major equipment, we don’t work with anyone else. Why would we?”
“Plant Ops’ unique ability to package the consultative and project/construction management, as well as
employ a combination of consortium services and public bidding, resulted in our saving $150,000 from our cost
estimate.”
“The Consortium is a best practice approach to carrying out the mandate of the state, focusing on
resource-sharing, while helping others with a commitment of teamwork and partnership for quality outcomes.”
“The POS Consortium staff have responded to our requests in timely and effective ways, ranging from research
and vender-related issues, to professional services and project management. We have found them to be a critical
resource in these times of fiscal constraints.”
In September 2009, POS co-located with the Washington State University Extension Energy Program in
downtown Olympia, Washington. The program was co-managed until September 2009, when POS officially merged into
WSU Extension.
Looking to the future…
With experience under its belt since 1995, the two resource powerhouses of the POS Consortium and WSUEEP have
combined to form a super support opportunity. The Consortium has proven itself as an enduring program that works,
promising to save members thousands of dollars with most transactions. As long as there are facilities
professionals who step out of the box and long to make a difference there will be a place for the Consortium. It
enables great things to happen by using common sense and operational savvy as ways of doing the public's
business. We join our members in looking forward to even more opportunities ahead.
Awards
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2008 Northwest Energy Efficiency Council Energy Management Award
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CSG 2003 Innovations Award for Tri-Phase Initiative
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Bob MacKenzie, recipient of the 2002 Governor's Distinguished Management Leadership Award,
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CSG 2001 Innovations Award, Honorary Mention
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Winner, in collaboration with Department of Corrections and 3M Corporation of the 2001 Innovations
Award, for the Lexan Restoration Project, by the National Association of State Facilities
Administrators
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Awarded first place honors in the Public Works category of National Association of State Chief
Administrators 1999 Outstanding Program Awards
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Semifinalist in the 1999 Innovations in American Government Awards Program
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1999, 2001, 2002 Winner of four Governor Awards for Service and Quality Improvement
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Winner of the 1997 Golden Circles Award from the International Facility Management
Association
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Honorary Mention in 1997 Innovations Award Competition sponsored by the National Association of State
Facilities Administrators
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Winner of the 1997 Fame Award of Merit from the Association for Facilities Engineering