Rick Bond, Chief Revenue Officer at Safeware, on his organisation’s relationship with the City and County of Denver.

Since 1979, Safeware has provided a superior selection of safety products and technical service to customers in the industrial, government, military, and response markets. Founded with a vision to provide innovative and high-quality safety solutions to businesses and organisations, Safeware has since become a trusted name for law enforcement agencies, fire departments, rescue operators, emergency medical services, hazmat teams, educational institutions, government, and industrial safety workers across the United States.

Rick Bond is the Chief Revenue Officer at Safeware. Having been involved with Safeware since June 2011, Bond today oversees all sales and marketing for the company as part of his role. With almost 14 years of experience with the organisation overall, Bond has had a front row seat to quite the transformation. “I’ve seen the evolution of cooperative contracts from something that was just a few agencies that were out in front to a widely accepted method for purchasing professionals all over the country,” he explains.

“What’s great about our contracts in particular is that they were competed for categories that are unique compared to other companies who hold cooperative contracts. Some of those early contracts were for office supplies and then a lot of contracts have been competed for MRO, which is saw blades and toilet paper and other really important stuff. But the stuff we sell is critical to our country’s infrastructure and the categories in particular are unique from those other contracts. I think government purchasing professionals are finding that we stack nicely alongside other national suppliers as someone who can really provide critical products at competed products whenever they need them.”

Rick Bond, Chief Revenue Officer at Safeware

Cooperative contracts

Safeware holds several cooperative contracts, allowing the company to serve a broad range of customers nationwide. Bond explains that over the past 25 years, cooperative contracts have emerged which have become national in scope.

“The big question is if the City and County of Denver or Maricopa County has competed a contract, why do they both have to compete for the same contract? These very innovative thought leaders in public procurement have constructed cooperative contracts that enable one large municipality to take advantage of the competition,” says Bond. “Secondly, it enables even smaller agencies to take advantage of that same competition. Competed contracts and cooperative contracts are a way for government purchasing people to do more with less. That’s very important because I used to go into these government purchasing offices 25 years ago and there were cubicles full of people. Now I see these same agencies doing more with fewer bodies. It’s an example of great innovation taking place in our government procurement offices.”

Over the years, one of Safeware’s most influential relationships has been with the City and County of Denver. Over time, the alliance has evolved and has pushed the envelope of the traditional definition of ‘business relationship’ – offering so much more to both parties. “We work with the City and County of Denver at an agency level, but we also work with the highest levels of procurement,” explains Rick Bond, Chief Revenue Officer at Safeware.

“Lance Jay, Chief Procurement Director of City and County of Denver is a great friend to Safeware. He’s very clear in demonstrating exactly what the needs of the City and County of Denver are, and he calls us when something comes up or he feels like we could be a good fit. It’s not just a business relationship where they’re on one side and we’re on the other – it’s a relationship. They trust us with some of the most important initiatives that they have and we’re honoured to be a part of that supply chain.”

Building trust

Good partnerships require a high level of trust built upon actions, not words. For Safeware and the City and County of Denver, they have that mutual understanding which in Bond’s mind holds the key. “If I get a text message from someone in our Denver office and they say they need something, it’s all hands on deck around here,” he says. “There’s a lot of business opportunity for us, but a lot of responsibility comes with it.

“A really important example was during the pandemic. Many times, we heard from the City and County of Denver that they had a specific need, and because of the lasting relationship and the strong ties we had to Lance and the City and County of Denver, we prioritised those requirements and we made sure wherever possible we got them those products. We’ve had a strengthening of the relationship as they’ve been through different situations where they had a need or requirement and communicated it to us and we’ve been able to demonstrate the type of value we can deliver.”

Future facing

Looking ahead, Bond is in no doubt that his company’s focus is on the country’s largest metros, cities and counties over the coming years. However, Bond stresses the importance of being flexible to meet ever-changing customer needs. “A big buzzword that we’re talking about now is community resilience,” he reveals.

“We’re seeing these communities being challenged with new threats, and the solutions are complex. It’s not just one product, it’s a bundle of products delivered in a certain way. We’re providing products like supplies to make nursing homes safer in other parts of the country. Also, we are working with customers to provide generators for people who have disabilities so that they don’t lose the ability to use their critical medical equipment if there’s a power failure. We’re seeing a focus in our country on developing infrastructure to make people safer. As a thought leader in our country, we expect and anticipate that the City and County of Denver will be leading the charge in this type of project. We look forward to being challenged with some of those new ideas and projects through our cooperative contracts in the future.”

Find out more in the latest issue of CPOstrategy Magazine.

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