Action Alert: Download the Best Practices in Snow Service Procurement Timeline

'...It was clear that the facilities management and snow management industries needed a visually impactful best practices timeline to help all parties work together to ensure properties are in a reasonable state of readiness prior to each winter season.'

Take action now:

• Download the Timeline here
• Give Feedback on the Timeline here
• Share ideas on future best practices with Phill@sima.org

SIMA held its second Think Tank last fall to continue collaboration between snow professionals and facilities/property managers. Facilitation professionals utilizing the ‘Action Learning’ model helped participants develop tangible, actionable solutions for the association to deliver. As a result of this event, it was clear that the facilities management and snow management industries needed a visually impactful best practices timeline to help all parties work together to ensure properties are in a reasonable state of readiness prior to each winter season.

As a first step in creating such a timeline, SIMA’s COO Brian Birch recruited a core group of stakeholder reviewers to ensure a wide breadth of talent and insight was represented in the project. SIMA also established a crucial requirement that approximately 1/3 of the stakeholders be closely tied to the facilities management industry. In November 2015, the stakeholders received the first version of the visual timeline. Over the next 3 months, staff and stakeholder volunteers reviewed and revised the timeline in multiple phases. As the project evolved, we realized that we were ultimately collecting and developing best practices guidelines for procuring professional snow & ice management services.  

After a few more iterations of the project that led to our final review just a few weeks ago, SIMA is proud to announce the industry’s first version of the Best Practices in Snow Service Procurement: 52-Week Visual Timeline. The timeline includes:

• A master timeline that illustrates both sides of the procurement process - one for the buyers and the other for the snow service providers. It visually highlights the best practices for timing of RFPs, contract negotiations, contract awards, and contracted service start/end time frames. It establishes a 52-week cycle of snow procurement, broken down seasonally so that recommendations can be adjusted depending on the geographic area of a site. 
• Separate, more specific timelines for buyers and snow service providers. Each specific timeline comes with best practice recommendations tied to essential elements of the 52-week cycle.
• A ‘Risk Meter’, which highlights the benefits and associated risks tied to the timing of contract award dates.

In every effort we put forth for carrying out SIMA’s mission of empowering snow & ice management, we are committed to continuous development and improvement of industry best practices for the benefit of everyone who is involved with snow & ice management. Learn more and download the timeline now at www.sima.org/timeline.