Piggybacking is a way for agencies to purchase from vendors who have worked with other agencies that follow the same procurement process.
(It’s also a funny word, we get it.)
Scenario:
City XYZ issued an RFP for 1,000 cases of 12 oz arctic blue Gatorade bottles and awarded the contract to Gails Gatorade Distributors, LLC. A few months later, City ABC needed to buy Gatorade from Gails Gatorade Distributors, wanting to avoid the bid/rfp process. City ABC follows the same procurement process as City XYZ, allowing them to execute the piggyback language that was added to Gails Gatorade award for the initial 1,000 cases of 12 oz bottles.
If you are a vendor and do not have a State Contract, GSA Schedule or a Cooperative Agreement, piggybacking is the next best thing to create your own contract, allowing agencies to purchase from your company.
See an example of piggybacking language below:
The Vendor agrees to allow the _______________________ (district or agency issuing the bid) and other public agencies and school districts in the State of (ENTER STATE) to purchase additional items, at the same terms and conditions as this bid, during the period of time that this bid is in effect.
Districts and agencies may order additional items in qualities of one or more.
Any liability created by Purchase Orders issued against this agreement shall be the sole responsibility of the district or agency placing the order.
Prices and terms shall remain firm and in effect for _____________________________________ (i.e., 365, 120, 90, 60) days following the award of this bid, unless otherwise specified.
If your company is awarded a bid/rfp, then you should ask if you can include similar verbiage to help out other agencies who are in need of the same products or services. This saves countless hours of time in the procurement process, making it easier for agencies to get what they need and expediting the sales cycle for companies, creating a WIN-WIN!
There are 9 other ways to win government business outside of the traditional bid/rfp process besides piggybacking. For a list of all the other ways the government spends, check out this quick video!