When heat exchangers on the rooftop units at Murfreesboro School District’s high school cracked, administrators had to act quickly. Without a budget to completely finance a repair or upgrade, the district needed to rely on matching funds from the state of Tennessee — which would be lost if the project was not under contract by October.

The district moved quickly to obtain the necessary funding, and to complete the work over holiday break, so as not to disturb classroom activity.

Leveraging The Cooperative Purchasing Network

Leaders at Murfreesboro School District discussed the upgrade with their mechanical engineer. To move the process along quickly, and meet the funding deadline, the engineer suggested using The Cooperative Purchasing Network (TCPN).

The district contacted Trane, a preapproved TCPN vendor, to quickly conduct a site visit to evaluate the high school’s needs. Trane developed a proposal for equipment and labor, which the district accepted prior to the funding deadline. Trane supplied the equipment and — along with the mechanical engineer and the district’s facilities manager — selected a local contractor for installation.

Why TCPN? TCPN allows large and small government entities such as schools, counties and non-profits to leverage their purchasing power. All TCPN contracts are competitive bids, which a government entity evaluates and awards to national vendors in accordance with purchasing procedures mandated by state procurement regulations. Contract awards are based on quality, proven performance, customer satisfaction and pricing.

Using TCPN allowed Murfreesboro School District to mitigate costs and ensure it was receiving a good value. It also enabled the district to avoid the traditional six- to eight-week vendor selection process, which would have pushed it past the funding deadline. Lastly, the district decreased its risk in supplier selection by using TCPN, and increased the engineer’s confidence in achieving quality work that met design specifications.

Delivering comfortable, optimal learning environments

Trane’s Precedent™ rooftop units were selected to replace aging equipment at the high school. The efficient rooftop units deliver high reliability to keep students and staff comfortable.

To speed installation, Trane shipped and staged 30 of the units at the site. The preconfigured units come with factory-installed options to eliminate expensive and time-consuming field installations. When ready to proceed, the crew had all but three units in place within three days, allowing the team to move forward with the electrical, gas, startup and controls setup.

Precedent units do not have belts and feature direct-drive fan motors, reducing maintenance requirements and operating costs. With MERV 13 filtration, Precedent units remove the amount of particles in the air to improve indoor air quality and use an ultra-quiet plenum fan to deliver a quieter environment — making the high school more conducive to learning.

Taking building controls online

With no controls system in place at the high school, the district installed a Tracer SC™ building automation system (BAS) during the project. The BAS streamlines facility operations to improve efficiency, increase comfort and reduce energy costs.

A web-based system, Tracer SC provides facility managers with flexibility to monitor and control building systems from any desktop or mobile device with an Internet connection. The high school’s facilities staff can now use the Tracer SC to perform daily operations, such as scheduling, changing set points, programming, troubleshooting, alarm management and data analysis.

Final results, a successful future

Using TCPN as a procurement tool, Murfreesboro School District significantly reduced the time required for the procurement process, met tight state funding deadlines and completed upgrades within the holiday break timeframe. Not only was the project completed quickly with cost-effective state funding, critical learning days were not interrupted by the project.

Pleased with the cost, efficiency and flexibility of the project, the district plans to use TCPN to complete work at another district school during the summer.

Click here if you would like to learn how Trane Building Advantage can connect with customers through TCPN to get projects off the ground fast.