Nearly 70 vendors and members were honored during Choice Partners’ (CP) annual appreciation luncheon on January 26. The event is an opportunity for vendors and members to network and for CP to recognize how it helps Harris County learners.  

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“The companies we are honoring are a small sample of our nearly 500 vendors, but they represent nearly 60 percent of the money Choice Partners generates annually,” Senior Director Jeff Drury said. “This is our opportunity to say thank you and demonstrate how much we appreciate that they’re using our co-op and our contracts.”  

Superintendent James Colbert Jr. applauded attendees for their support of public education through providing and utilizing competitively bid contracts with Choice Partners. Colbert’s address included a video highlighting how the national purchasing cooperative funds are leveraged to improve campuses serving area students, including Academic and Behavior School East, Highpoint School and the Adult Education Learning Center.  

“We learned today that it’s not about what or how much we purchase but about who we are helping,” said James Briscoe, director of procurement services for Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District (Cy-Fair ISD). “Our funds are going back to students who need those extra resources, which is the ultimate achievement of participating in this particular co-op. Every dollar we spend is going back to the classroom.”  

Cy-Fair, Houston and Katy independent school districts were recognized at the luncheon as Choice Partners’ top three members. The districts use more than a dozen CP contracts to procure goods and services for student meals, employee software and supplies.  

Briscoe used the opportunity to network with vendors such as Hunton Services, a company that supplies energy-efficient heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems and additional mechanical services.  

“These interactions make our buying experience more efficient because we are building personal connections with vendors,” he said. “We get an opportunity to learn unique services they provide that we might overlook when researching on our own.”  

Hunton Services was recognized as a top vendor in the job order contracting category. Sam Thompson, a rental sales manager at Hunton Services, described Choice Partners as a key component in the company’s expansion over the past decade.  

“We have more than a dozen contracts with school districts in Houston and across Texas, and that is largely because of Choice Partners,” Thompson said. “Hunton Services has been a vendor with Choice for several years but this is our first time participating in the luncheon. We are honored to be here and humbled to learn about HCDE’s impact on the community.” 

Choice Partners also recognized Amazon as the top vendor for commodities and Labatt Food Services as the top food vendor.  

To learn more about Choice Partners, visit choicepartners.org.