PACA FAQ

Partnership is open to all public entities that are subject to the State of Alabama Competitive Bid Law (Code of Alabama § 41-16-50) within the State of Alabama. In order to join, the chief executive of your agency signs the intergovernmental agreement. This may require a resolution of the governing body to authorize the executive to enter into this agreement. The signed agreement is submitted to the Jefferson County Commission for approval.
Yes. Partnership fees are based on a percentage of the cooperative’s operating budget, derived from the size of the partner’s budget relative to another partner’s budget. Therefore, annual charges for the partners will vary. As more agencies join, the cost will decrease for each existing partner due to spreading the operating cost over more participants.
Partnership fees are calculated by PARCA, (Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama) a non-profit agency.
PARCA uses expenditure data from the Financial Accounting Report- Jefferson County Governmental Units provided by the Jefferson County Treasurer’s office. If this information is not available, we will need a copy of your most recent audited budget/financial report. School Systems are calculated using data from the Alabama State Department of Education. The institutions of higher education (two- year colleges) are calculated using Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) provided by the U.S. Department of Education.
Awarded bids are posted to the Jefferson County Purchasing & Purchasing Association of Central Alabama (PACA) website. Each member is assigned a temporary user id and password to login to the PACA website. The temporary user id and password will be used by everyone in your organization, so feel free to share. You will be prompted to create your own unique user id and password. Our ordering process is simple, locate and download the award letter and price list, contact the vendor listed, inform them you are a partner of PACA and place your order.
Contact the PACA coordinator at least 60 days in advance of the need date and submit any specifications you may have. The Coordinator will send out a joint bid poll to see if other entities are interested in participating in the bid. If you already know other partners who will be participating in the bid, send the names to the Coordinator, this will speed up the process. If enough interest is obtained the bid will be assigned to a principal buyer within the Purchasing Division to create the bid. The principal buyer will communicate with all interested participants to further define the specifications and all other aspects of the bid.