While at the VEMEC Conference in Washington D.C. recently, I had the
pleasure of meeting wonderful and dedicated people focused on helping others
during disaster relief situations.
Author: Paulette Butler
The consensus was the Federal Gov’t is not efficient at handling large scale disasters. The major suggestion was that States, Counties and Cities can serve their local population much better than various departments in Washington.
One topic in the forum was the task of finding reliable and qualified vendors for various supplies.
GSA Advantage is an internet portal with pre qualified
vendors offering a wide range of supplies.
Federal agencies can order directly from this website. Local governments can order products and
services under the Disaster Recovery & Cooperative Purchasing Program. Go to GSA Advantage . Scroll to the bottom and click on State &
Local Governments to see the details.
If you need items and it is not a declared emergency, simply
entering an item in the Search field can provide all the information needed to
contact the appropriate company. For
example, a search for “wool blankets” brings up several vendors and styles of
blankets. A search for “Northwest Woolen
Mills” shows all the items available from our company.
I hope this is helpful, let me know if you have any comments
or questions.
