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Contingency planning is a familiar concept for many city and county leaders, especially procurement teams, where supply chain disruptions are no longer rare events but recurring challenges. On paper, a plan may look solid. However, when the supply chain is stress-tested by constant real-world disruptions, such as market fluctuations, supplier delays, regulatory changes, or natural disasters, its true strengths are revealed. These persistent challenges continue to push the limits of local government supply chains, often exposing the gap between simply having a plan and having a strategy that works.

This is where strategy meets reality, and the ability to execute is vital. Everyone will have a different planning approach. Local leaders should ensure that all stakeholders, from elected officials to various department heads, understand both the short- and long-term risks when procuring critical goods and services during times of uncertainty. From public safety to sanitation, disruptions don’t just affect one department; they can ripple through every essential function of government, impacting a community’s daily life and its ability to remain resilient.

For local governments balancing budgets, infrastructure challenges, and smaller or one-person teams, being prepared for potential disruptions does not have to require massive resources.  It’s about creating flexible, collaborative strategies with your procurement team to adapt under pressure. This starts by making procurement a key part of your planning process to ensure continuity in operations during times of disruption. To turn contingency plans into actionable, resilient strategies, it requires a shift in mindset from “if” disruption happens to “when” it does. 

Outlined below are three key strategies local governments may adopt to strengthen their supply chain resilience and close the gap between planning and preparedness for real-world execution. 

Leveraging Cooperative Purchasing to Build Instant Resilience

Cooperative procurement is the process in which two or more entities, such as government departments or agencies, combine their procurement requirements to gain the advantages of bulk purchasing. This can help save time, reduce the administrative burden, and provide immediate access to trusted suppliers. 

In fact, according to The National Association of State Procurement Officials State Survey Report found that nearly all states have legislation allowing cooperative purchasing in some form, though specific guidelines vary. When a disruption strikes, many local procurement teams may know what to do in theory, but executing under pressure, with potentially limited resources, can be difficult without support. 

State legislation supports the strategic value of cooperatives and offers an action-ready framework with instant access to pre-vetted suppliers and pre-negotiated contracts. This allows cooperative purchasing to turn planning into real-time readiness and helps agencies bypass RFP processes, avoid last-minute sourcing, and minimize supplier delays. This partnership is especially valuable for smaller or resource-limited communities that lack the scale or connections to work directly with larger supplier sources. Cooperatives provide built-in support and expanded access through established supplier relationships and supplier engagement resources helping extend local reach when it matters most. 

Key Benefits of Cooperative Purchasing:

• Expert Guidance: Tap into procurement and subject matter experts for planning, guidance, and performance support.

• Simplified Approvals: Access contracts that offer pre-established procedures documented within cooperative agreements specifying emergency procurement protocols.

• Supplier Onboarding:  Onboarding with suppliers under cooperative contracts sets clear expectations and identifies potential challenges.

• Supplier Diversity: Access a wide range of suppliers, from local to national, avoiding overreliance on a single supplier.

• Shared Knowledge: Learn from shared experiences and best practices of other agencies.

Including cooperative support into contingency plans eliminates hours of work while allowing leaders the ability to act decisively and access supplies quickly. In addition, regularly reviewing partnerships with cooperatives ensures that contracts, categories, and communications stay aligned.

Use Category Management to Identify and Prioritize Critical Goods

Resilient supply chains start with prioritization and organization—which is where category management comes in.  In the Government Contracts Reference Book, category management is defined as “A strategic purchasing practice through which a department categorizes, consolidates, and coordinates purchases of common goods and services with the goal to gain economies of scale, eliminate redundancies, and increase purchasing efficiency.” [1]

In times of disruption, not all goods and services carry the same level of priority. Category management helps leaders prioritize the most critical goods to procure by managing each category based on its importance, risk level, and role in acquiring emergency response for items like Public Safety Equipment, Fuel, IT and Communications Systems/Solutions, Medical Supplies, and PPE. 

Instead of treating every purchase as a one-off decision, category management helps you focus your efforts on the most critical areas, especially during emergencies. For example, by organizing purchasing around categories for critical goods and services local leaders can better:

• Identify what’s critical to daily operations and emergency response.

• Pinpoint where vulnerabilities exist.

• Streamline planning by focusing time and resources on the areas that matter most.

Tip: By creating a list of your most important categories and reviewing who supplies them, it can make a big difference when a disruption happens. Start by asking, If this item or service were delayed, what would stop working? Those answers can guide how you prioritize your categories.

You can consider enhancing this approach over time with digital tools, but cooperative contracts can also support this procurement strategy by offering pre-vetted suppliers within specific categories needed, saving time and effort.

Action step: Evaluate the most critical goods and services your community relies on. Group similar items into categories and assess how they’re currently managed and purchased. Ask: Who are our main suppliers? Do we have a backup if something falls through?

Strengthening category management can turn a basic procurement process into a pillar for a resilience strategy. It helps leaders focus on what’s truly essential, reduce duplication, and improve communication across departments.

Turning Planning into Practice

Contingency plans and resilient supply chains are only as strong as the tools and partnerships behind them. It requires evolving alongside changing risks and staying prepared by focusing on regular training, open communication, and maintaining a commitment to continuous improvement. Testing the plan helps identify gaps before a crisis exposes them. 

For example, imagine a blizzard hit and your usual supplier can’t deliver road salt. Would your plan outline who to call, what resources to immediately tap into, and how to keep critical services running? Running through these “what if” situations can reveal these gaps before a real emergency exposes them.

Success will be as much about how the team reacts as it will be about what is learned. A good rule of thumb is to take time to reflect after any disruption: What worked? What didn't? Who should be looped in faster next time? These insights will help turn contingency plans from static documents into active tools a team and community can rely on long-term.