John Caddy (Sourcewell)

John Caddy brings a procurement-focused perspective to asset management through his work with Sourcewell. Supporting public agencies across North America, he helps connect procurement strategies with the operational needs of facilities and infrastructure teams. John shares insights on the growing role of cooperative procurement, how organizations can navigate complex purchasing decisions, and why strong processes are essential to turning plans into action.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Hello and welcome to Telling Your Asset Management Story. Today we're joined by John Caddy, whose professional journey has given him a unique perspective on the role procurement plays in supporting facilities, infrastructure, and long-term planning. Through his work at SourceWell, John helps public agencies connect procurement strategies with the real operational needs of asset and facility managers across North America. In this episode, we'll talk about how he found his way into this space, why cooperative procurement continues to grow in importance, and how organizations can use it to navigate increasingly complex purchasing decisions.

SPEAKER_02 0:40

John, welcome to this special episode of Telling Your Asset Management Story. We really appreciate you being here today.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

Thanks, Bill. Good to see you again. It's been been a little while. It's been about what a year since we've yeah, it was that's right.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

It was about a year ago that I froze myself silly in Minnesota doing the uh the other videos that we used as part of our contract relaunch. So thank you. Great, no problem. And um, yeah, looking forward to seeing you in a couple of months in June at the uh at the H2O uh conference as well. That's always one of my favorites.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

So yeah, yeah. We're glad that you're able to make it again this year. It's a big event for us, and uh I promise the weather will be a lot nicer in June than it is right now. We're we're uh we're at the back end of a blizzard right now.

SPEAKER_02 1:25

So oh dear, oh dear. Well, John, one of the one of the premises behind telling your asset management story is for uh our our guests to give us a little bit of background and tell us kind of how they got to where they are today. So can you share a little bit of your career journey that brought you to SourceWell and then how you your career and SourceWell as an organization has evolved since uh since then?

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Yeah, absolutely. Um boy, I don't want to go on too long. I could probably talk all day about myself, but I've been uh I've been with SourceWell for about seven years now. Um the first half of that time when I started, I started in a unit that really focused and handled fleet and equipment contracts. And then uh about three and a half, four years ago, I transitioned to a unit focusing on facility contracts and uh jock construction contracts in states where we have those. Uh, but prior to coming to Sourcewell, I spent 24 years with one organization right out of college. Um, I managed a couple retail stores, uh, one in Duluth, Minnesota, one in Blaine, which is just on the north side of the Twin Cities. Um, and that company manufactured and distributed livestock equipment and truck equipment. Interesting. So um after the retail store management, I had an opportunity to uh set up and establish a wholesale territory in the Twin Cities metro area. So it was an opportunity to go out and identify folks who could distribute or be dealers for our product line. And after that, I was able to relocate back to Brainerd, Minnesota, where our home office was and kind of my backyard where I grew up. And I managed uh approximately 500 accounts uh in the Midwest. And you know that that really helped coming into SourceWell with fleet and and you know construction equipment and and stuff like that because their models are dealer models. That's how they go to market. So I kind of had that understanding and that knowledge. It was a matter then of learning cooperative purchasing and and source well, of course. So uh I think that that time helped lead into that. Uh three and a half, four years ago, I kind of transitioned to our facilities unit. We had a need uh for someone to help out with jock construction, which is really the same principle, right? It's a it's a competitive solicitation, it's been satisfied, but those contracts are a little bit, they have some more nuances, they're a little little trickier, and it's it would be tough to start out with those. So I really made a lateral move, wasn't a promotion or anything like that, it was just a jump over to a unit. Um, and then that led to about a year and a half ago or so, uh an opportunity opened up to be an associate director of our facilities unit. So now everything Sourcewell considers a facility contract falls under my purview. We've got a couple SDEs and an SDS that work with a portfolio of contracts uh in that world.

SPEAKER_02 4:53

So awesome. Well, and it's interesting how kind of going way back to that store management in a retail setting, you would have had to deal with some facilities issues and facility-related challenges associated with the store and to come full circle back around and to now be overseeing all of the facilities contracts for source. Well, kind of an interesting, you know, kind of full circle moment. That's that's kind of neat. I I didn't know that actually.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

Really? Yeah, yeah. It was uh that was that was my early work life, and it was it was hectic. And yeah, like you said, you know, managing staff, sales budgets, advertising budgets, and then the property itself, uh, that was it was it was a lot of work, but great experience. And it's just kind of strange how you go down a path of working with dealers and distributors and everything they're going through, and and then how that ties into an opportunity that came about with Source Well, it just seemed to fit perfect.

SPEAKER_02 5:47

So excellent. No, that's great. Well, and and and so um when we look at cooperative procurement, and and so you know, we've been in, we've been involved with with you guys now for five, just over five years. And I think the amount of the amount of uptake, the amount of awareness over the last five years has been has been really amazing. But there's still folks that that maybe don't know what cooperative procurement is and what SourceWell is. Can you tell us a little bit about cooperative, a little bit about the history and a little bit about where we are today and and and specifically SourceWell for those that don't know kind of what it is and how they could potentially use it as they're tackling their asset management challenges?

SPEAKER_01 6:24

Yeah, absolutely. And I mean that's that's really what we're working towards every day at SourceWell, right? Is that awareness throughout our membership and and awarded suppliers, all their dealers, all their salespeople. It's kind of a never-ending project. You think you think you're gaining ground, and then uh turns out there's a whole new slew of folks that need to understand.

SPEAKER_02 6:45

But you know, somebody retired, the new person needs to know all that stuff, right?

SPEAKER_01 6:49

All the time, yeah. All the time you're talking to folks that just are looking to be brought up to speed. And uh, but growth, uh cooperative purchasing continues to grow, source well continues to grow. Um, if you look at it by definition, uh, you know, cooperative procurement, it's it's procurement conducted by, excuse me, or on behalf of one or more public procurement units. That's that's a technical definition, but public entities need legal and compliant ways to purchase uh and competitive processes have to be met uh to make those legal purchases using public money. So having an option where that process is already satisfied, that's what a cooperative contract is, right? Public agencies don't necessarily have to duplicate that long, lengthy, costly process of going out to bid on their own. They can piggyback uh uh another contracts. So um joint exercise of powers laws across the country, really in each state, dictate you know the ability for entities to piggyback and for what. But somewhere along the line, uh a lead agency needs to have competitively solicited and awarded contracts. So everybody had a fair shot at winning the business. And um, that's what SourceWorld does as a government. We do we're our own lead agency, we have our own procurement department, and we work hard to do the things the right way so that comfort is there for our members across the country to get to contracts and the suppliers that they need.

SPEAKER_02 8:32

So awesome. No, that's great. And and I think that um, you know, like I said, the amount of uh the amount of uh uh market awareness and and and growth of cooperatives overall, but specifically SourceWell uh has been has been amazing to watch since late 21 when we got our first contract.

SPEAKER_01 8:51

Late 90s was SourceWell's first contract for office equipment. And it uh wow, obviously a lot of time, a lot of work. Um, but Sourcewell and other cooperatives have done a fantastic job of putting options out in front of our members, and that's that's why it continues to grow and outpace government spend every year. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:11

What do you think, John, in your experience, are some of the biggest misconceptions about uh cooperative procurement or cooperative contracts that you hear when you're talking to your members or prospective members from uh the public sector across North America?

SPEAKER_01 9:25

You know, I I think I would still have to say that it's the the biggest misconception is that it's not legal or it doesn't satisfy requirements, or that it skips or bypasses the bidding process.

SPEAKER_02 9:38

That's a great land.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

That's what we're always working on and and working to educate folks with. It's uh it's just that that that process is never skipped, it's never bypassed, it's just done up front. So Sourcewell, I know, spends a lot of time developing these categories and going through that process. It starts typically 18 months in advance. Being a government ourselves, answering to a publicly elected board of directors, we have to do things just like public entity, other public entities out there. So I think that really helps with the comfort in using contracts. But you know, that that misconception in most cases, it seems like our process will often exceed legal requirements. So um it's fun talking with members from time to time and they start to understand how this all works.

SPEAKER_02 10:37

So that's great. Yeah, John, you mentioned your unique structure, if you will, as a cooperative, because there's there's different cooperatives and they're all set up differently. Um, you know, some are some are lead agency models, some are public, uh, sorry, um private companies, uh for profit companies, things like that. Can you talk a little bit about what makes SourceWell unique from its you know government entity perspective?

SPEAKER_01 10:59

I I think that's one of them, right? I mean, we're we're government, we're a local unit of government within the state of Minnesota. Our dot gov, our website is a.gov. That's uh kind of helps identify that that we are who we are. Um so once again, that comfort. Uh I think doing things the way that they need to be done to make those purchases and understand everything is done so it's legal and compliant. That's that's job number one for public folks, right? I mean, absolutely. They they pretty much get an idea of what it is they need. They know they know what their budgets are, they can work all of that out, but first and foremost, they've got to purchase it in a in a correct manner. And that's our product, if you will. And then it's our our suppliers like yourself, Bill, that are really bringing the value. You're you're bringing the solutions that our members need, you know. That's that's how this whole thing works.

SPEAKER_02 11:56

So awesome. No, that's great. And I think I think being being one of them or being like them as a government entity uh has been really helpful as we've talked to folks, you know, when when people are like, I'm not so sure. And once you're like, well, no, the this is a government entity. This is not, you know, that that has certainly helped give a level of comfort for folks and and then allow them to dig deeper into it. And I can say, having having responded now to two uh solicitations from you guys, it is it's it's deep and intense.

SPEAKER_01 12:28

There's not much process, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 12:30

Yeah, there's not much, there's not much about the company that that I've ever written in a proposal that wasn't included in the responses. And and the transparency that you bring uh to the to the whole thing from from end to end is is has been great. Um you mentioned you mentioned kind of the the value that's brought by your suppliers. Can you talk a little bit about the types of things that are offered through through SourceWell? I mean, you have like 500, 600 contracts now, just at a at a high level, kind of what what could a facility or asset manager, you know, and even beyond just the facilities uh type contracts, what type of things can you streamline and satisfy procurement requirements for?

SPEAKER_01 13:10

Yeah, that's a great question. Thank you. So SourceWell is uh we we divide things up into 14 major categories. So some of them we mentioned, right? Facilities, we might have office and administration, fleet, construction equipment, construction, insurance. There's there's 14 major categories that everything kind of filters under. And we're approaching or over 900 awarded content.

SPEAKER_02 13:36

Oh my gosh, I'm I'm out of date then. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

That's how fast it it's growing, you know. But to mention some categories to that folks might be familiar with, we we talk about facility assessment, HVAC, uh, facility securities, janitorial equipment, elevators, paint, uh, equipment and supplies, portable and relocatable buildings, pest management. Uh, these are all that just fall really within the facilities unit. Um, electrical energy power generation, generators, from anything portable that you can wheel around to the large standby generators that you see at hospitals or schools, uh, MRO equipment. So to relate that to suppliers, names you you might be familiar with Johnson controls, Siemens, Dyke, and Honeywell, Carrier, Granger, um, Wesco, Fasinal, world-class suppliers, right? Best solutions available. That's that's what this is about. It's a pathway for our members to get the best solutions available at a fair price. So it's growing all the time. We're always working to develop new categories. You know, AI is a hot topic right now. What is that doing for procurement? What is that doing for solutions that our members need? So we we've got a complete team that works on that, nothing but those things all the time. Awesome.

SPEAKER_02 15:08

Well, one of the things, uh, John, and and we again we've seen this evolution over the last five years, but I think it's fair to say that cooperative procurement sort of started in the products market, right? You mentioned paint, you mentioned equipment, you mentioned fleet. That's sort of the the the origin story, I think it's fair to say, of a lot of cooperative procurement. Um obviously you mentioned things like construction and and and services. So can you can you talk a little bit about kind of that evolution and um how for uh for a facility or an asset manager, how how the you know the procurement of products versus services could could you know is similar but different um for for them that are looking to use it for potentially both?

SPEAKER_01 15:51

Well, I think the contracts and the process really is the same, right? That that competitive solicitation and awards process has been done. So there's ready-to-use contracts, but it's a lot different, say, purchasing a lawnmower, a SKU, a part number with maybe a couple options or add-ons, than it is a facility assessment project. So some of the differences are going to be the I mean have to do with the complexity or the scope of work, um, ongoing management of those programs. It's just a it's just a different animal altogether, but the idea that there's a solicitation satisfied, there's a price file, everything is under certain kinds of guidelines, uh, is really the same. Um I would say that sometimes when you look across the country geographically, service, labor, construction, construction service, whatever term you use, is viewed differently uh as products. So early on it was products that was accepted. And it really is just a matter, I think, of comfort and and time to start understanding there's a whole nother set of contracts, service-oriented contracts, that certainly can be used. You do run into a few places where it's viewed differently enough that they say no, that that doesn't fit with what we have, what we're required, uh, you know, to complete a bid process, but it's very few places and things change. Uh, you know, things are changing fast, generally for depositives. So um, yeah, I mean, differences in the work, differences in the solution, contracts are pretty much the same.

SPEAKER_02 17:45

Oh, that's awesome. And and it was a great segue kind of talking about how things are continue to evolve. Because just curious, John, how do you see cooperative procurement in general evolving over the next five to 10 years based on your uh you know, your your experience to date uh in the industry?

SPEAKER_01 18:01

Well, I see cooperatives being more and more important, you know. I mean, uh, I don't necessarily manage a facility or a grounds or a building. So I get an opportunity though to be out and about talking to our members. I do get a glimpse of the inquiries that come in from them, what they're looking for. Um, but in general, cooperative purchasing is growing roughly 20% per year. Source will've been at the top end of that or leading growth among cooperatives. That's not going to slow down. Projections, obviously, by us, other cooperatives, and even neutral parties out there, NCPP, for example, I mean, are all indicating that it is becoming more and more important for public folks to have that in their bag, to have that in their mix for getting the things that they need. Um, and interestingly, out of all those categories we talked about, Bill, and all the contracts, there's you know, three categories that are really on the leading edge of growth, and that is facility assessment for us. HVAC is a big one, facilities maintenance. I would say those three, and maybe it's because of that, maybe it's more comfort, enough time has gone by, maybe it's a mix of suppliers. It could be a lot of things, but um, we're seeing really, really good growth in those categories. Could be because they're the areas that are really of need right now, too, you know.

SPEAKER_02 19:27

Yeah. No, it's interesting because um, you know, I think that um most organizations are being asked to do, you know, and and this is true of procurement groups as well, is are being asked to do more with less, right? And I've even heard some organizations that are starting to have the conversations of we gotta we gotta do less with less, right? Like we have to lower our levels of service because we simply don't have the resources. And so the ability to take um uh, you know, a workflow that could take three, six, nine months and compress that down into a much shorter period of time just means that procurement departments can do more procurements as opposed to having to go through that same competitive process that you've already done on their behalf. So that's a huge um efficiency tool and time saver where there are uh where there are contracts uh in place, obviously. And and um again, I I'm I'm sorry I'm so out of date. I didn't realize there were over 900 contracts. That's amazing. Um because I because that's one of the things that I always encourage people to if they're not super familiar with with SourceWell and we bring it to them, it's like, look, guys, we're having a conversation about what we do, but there's so many other things that you would, you know, you need on a daily basis that could be available um through these contracts. And and kind of on that note, I guess, um I mean, I know you guys have tens of thousands of members across across uh the the US and Canada. If somebody, if if somebody from the facilities world maybe isn't that familiar with SourceWell or somebody's if they have somebody in their procurement department that that wants to learn more, what's the best way for for a potential Sourcewell member or SourceWell contract user to to learn more about the organization?

SPEAKER_01 21:12

Yeah, that that's fantastic. And we look for that, we hope for that, right? We that it's all about that comfort, that understanding. Job number one is legal and compliant purchases. They got to ask questions, they got to do their due diligence and make sure. Um, reach out to SourceWell, Sourcewell-mn.gov. If you know an awarded supplier, they can put you in contact with with folks at SourceWell. But we have an entire team. We have uh, you know, I work in cooperative purchasing on the supplier side of things. We have kind of a sister department called government accounts. Membership is really what it used to go by. Um, but that's their job. They they're an outlet, a point of contact for our members, and we've got the country broken down regionally by vertical, so you Any member, potential member in the US is going to have a go-to person at Sourcewell that can help facilitate those questions. And if it's something they don't know, yes, we have a legal department, a government relations department, we've got a marketing department, we've got all kinds of folks working hard that can provide answers. And uh I think we, you know, we pride ourselves in my unit. We like to say we're government at the speed of business. I mean, we we that's awesome. That's great, actually. I like that. Yeah, we try and communicate quickly, uh like private industry does day to day, you know. So um reach out to us if you have any questions. Uh, we'd be more than happy to talk to you and and help provide information that'll lead you. We're never gonna be able to say this is legal, this is not. Of course, we're not legal counsel for anybody, but we'll provide whatever information for you for folks to make that decision.

SPEAKER_02 22:58

So awesome. And last question, John. Um, for our Canadian listeners, um, can you talk a little bit about SourceWell's relationship with Canoe and how Canadian prospective users can plug into your contracts through Canoe?

SPEAKER_01 23:13

Absolutely. Uh Canada's growing like gangbusters. Um, SourceWell has a partner we work with called Canoe Procurement. And uh they're they're uh in Canada, they they work solely in Canada based off of SourceWell contracts. So our supplier partners that have the ability to serve Canada, they would they would respond that way. They would answer uh in their response to us that yes, we have the ability and and interest in in serving in Canada. And it's a little bit of a process, right? I know, Bill, you've been through it, but there's an onboarding with canoe. The idea is the same thing. The competitive solicitation has been satisfied, but things are a little bit different, you know, north north of our border than it is here. So uh we've got folks from Canada that work with other Canadian folks that make things go smoothly. So um definitely opportunities uh out there. Canoe is very active, they've got some great folks working for them in capacities like myself. They have a kind of a membership side and a supplier side. But um, if anybody needs contact, reach out to SourceWell, we can do that very quickly.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

Yeah, absolutely. No, it's it's great to have um, you know, as an organization that operates on both sides of the border, it's great to have SourceWell in the US as a as a US government entity and Canoe in Canada as a Canadian entity. Um, you know, the markets are very similar, a lot of a lot of similarities, no north-south, but it is nice to have that that um distinct, if you will, um organization uh uh on on either side of the uh of the border. So um, John, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate this. I'm so glad we got to share with our audience. So thanks for joining us on telling your asset management story.

SPEAKER_01 25:07

Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 25:14

John's perspective is a great reminder that effective asset management depends on more than good data and long term planning. It also depends on having the right processes in place to move good decisions into action. As the needs of public agencies continue to evolve, conversations like this help make the path forward a little clearer. Thanks for joining us on telling your asset management story.