City's Amazon Business spending cap would grow to $750,000 as library shifts book orders after supplier closure

Plano departments have been buying more of their everyday supplies through Amazon, and the City Council is set on Monday, Oct. 12, to raise the yearly ceiling on that spending to $750,000.

The contract change is on the consent agenda for the 7 p.m. meeting at the Plano Municipal Center, 1520 K Ave. It would add $230,000 to the current $520,000 annual limit with Amazon Business, the online marketplace the city uses for operational supplies across all departments.

How the cap has grown

The council first approved the arrangement on Oct. 14, 2019, at $300,000 a year, and raised it to $520,000 on Jan. 10, 2022, according to the purchasing memo.

Staff wrote that use of the shared account has grown as departments got familiar with it, and that Amazon's recently added curated catalogs for office supplies, maintenance and repair supplies, and computer accessories have sped up the trend. The memo says purchases have stayed within each department's budget.

The library piece

Part of the increase is tied to Plano Public Library. One of the library's largest book distributors went out of business, the memo says, and staff expect about $150,000 of that buying to move to Amazon Business.

If the council does not approve the change, the memo says, the library would have fewer places to buy materials, which could raise its costs.

Controls on the account

According to the memo, every order placed through the city's Amazon Business portal goes to a designated approver, who checks that the purchase is appropriate and coded to the right account before it is sent. Deliveries can only go to designated city locations, and the city uses Amazon's tax exemption program, which blocks sellers that do not take part.

Staff said turning the change down would create inefficiencies, push more spending outside of contracts and increase the time finance staff spend reconciling purchasing cards and processing departmental purchase orders.

The city buys through the arrangement using a cooperative purchasing contract, which the memo says satisfies state competitive bidding requirements. The memo puts expected spending at $750,000 for the 2026-27 budget year and $250,000 for 2027-28.

Consent items are generally approved together in a single vote unless a council member or resident asks to pull one for separate discussion.

Sources

plano.legistar1.com

plano.legistar.com