On May 11, the Broward County School Board voted 7-2 to approve an organizational chart that eliminates about 300 filled positions and 700 vacant ones, with a directive to cut 1,000 jobs per year for the next three years. Among the cuts: 21 clerical support assistants and 40 district management positions — the back-office infrastructure that quietly keeps procurement moving. 

Superintendent Howard Hepburn framed the decision plainly: "responsible leadership requires that we make difficult decisions in a thoughtful, transparent, and student-centered manner." The Sun Sentinel's Scott Travis reported that the cuts arrive against a backdrop the district has avoided for a decade — a loss of nearly 39,000 students over ten years, while the employee count dropped only from 21,835 to 20,847. 

But here is what no board vote changes: cafeterias still need food, buses still need fuel, classrooms still need supplies, and the contracts that govern all of it still need to be sourced, awarded, and managed — on Monday, with fewer hands.

The problem question: How do Florida agencies keep buying what they need — with fewer people, less experience, and the same rules — over the next three years? 

Three solutions our firm can deliver:

1. Cooperative Purchasing Strategy Assessment — a 4-to-8 week diagnostic identifying which categories belong on existing cooperatives (Sourcewell, OMNIA, NASPO ValuePoint, Florida state term contracts) versus which require independent solicitation.
2. Governance & Compliance Modernization — rebuilding the policy infrastructure so cooperative awards are audit-defensible, not audit-exposed.
3. Procurement Capacity Coaching for Lean Teams — equipping the staff who remain to manage three times the contract volume with credentialed CPO guidance.

The cart still fills. The question is who is steering it.