Detail on State Master Agreement Opportunities for PPE

As reported last week, the state shared the following list of vendors, outside of the major medical suppliers, who they have had success securing PPE from: 

Important to note, the state has a master agreement with the 10 of these vendors indicated in blue text above, and non-profits who receive state funding (like Medicaid) are eligible to leverage the state’s master agreement.  This has been successfully done to secure supplies for the Opioid crisis. 

LAI met with the Iowa Department of Administrative Services (DAS) to learn more about how members can connect with the state master agreements.  To reach the contact information for the state master agreement vendors, members who quality (non-profit who receives state funding) should go to https://bidopportunities.iowa.gov/Home/AwardedContracts.  Once there, you may search for the company you are interested in purchasing through and select them.  Once you reach the vendor’s page, you scroll down to look at the contact information for the company.  For most, it will include a specific web address where you can set up an online account and begin ordering.  Many, not all, contracts include negotiated prices which would be available on the vendor’s website.  A few may try to initiate restrictions based on past usage, but that has been declining.  When ordering through the state master agreement, you will receive the terms of that agreement which is generally Net 60, and the opportunity to pay by credit card.  The DAS contact person shared that each vendor’s page and ordering process is a little different, but that the DAS contract page for the vendor will include the pertinent information needed to get started. 

LAI inquired whether it was possible to know if ordering medical grade equipment, and the DAS representative state that it may be unclear unless ordering from a traditional medical supplier since many of these companies traditionally focus on non-medical industries.  A DAS tip on the “search” feature for products would be to enter less specific terms as the search engine language is not very technical. 

For the other companies on the list above not covered by a master agreement, the state recommends that providers google and contact them directly to try and secure PPE. 

Please contact Shannon Strickler at LAI with questions.