IDOT purchases sand, various salt-sand mixtures, and other road treatment materials from various suppliers throughout the upper Midwest for winter weather road applications. These materials are then delivered to multiple IDOT locations throughout Iowa to ultimately be used for winter road applications.

IDOT has a purchasing staff of 10 people responsible for purchasing these road treatment materials. In the spring of each year, IDOT Purchasing Agents meet with supplier sales people to discuss their needs for winter road treatment materials. IDOT does not have a set standard purchase price for the road treatment materials it buys. Instead, IDOT Purchasing Agents negotiate individually with the various suppliers and determine unique item purchase prices for materials from each supplier. IDOT Purchasing Agents create a new Blanket Purchase Order Contract for each supplier for the next fiscal year. The Blanket Purchase Order Contract specifies the one fiscal year period for the Contract, the material(s) included in the Contract, the supplier that the contract is for, and the unit purchase price for each material on the Contract, and the maximum total amount of each material that can be ordered from that supplier during the fiscal year on the Contract. Sample Contract data is below. All Purchase Orders for any fiscal year must then be issued against the Blanket Purchase Order Contract for the same fiscal year.