Financial Services News - Nov. 2, 2015

Trane, Democracy Live sign with U.S. Communities

Thanks to two new contract launches in recent months, U.S. Communities has intensified its status as a frontrunner in the purchasing world.

With Trane, a global company that offers air conditioning sys­tems, services and solutions, and Democracy Live, which seeks to revolutionize the voting process with electronic balloting, U.S. Communities has expanded its list of suppliers to advance its focus on innovation and diversify its offerings to users.

The contract with Trane was launched on Oct. 1. For more than 100 years, Trane has pro­vided innovative solutions that optimize indoor environments through a broad portfolio of energy-efficient heating, ventilat­ing and air conditioning systems, advanced controls, building, contracting, and energy services and parts support. As counties are asked so consistently to “do more with less,” Trane can sup­port U.S. Communities users from the initial design concept to re-commissioning and upgrades.

The Democracy Live contract opened Oct. 13 and offers tools to counties that allow voters to access their ballots anytime and anywhere, on mobile devices, tab­lets and computers. The company believes that a one-size-fits-all bal­loting system does not work well for election officials or voters, and seeks to offer 21st century ballot­ing tools to each of the 200 million eligible voters in the United States.

While each of these contracts focuses on different solutions, both have proven success stories of interest to counties. Trane was able to reduce utility costs for the St. Lucie County, Fla. School District by $5 million a year with a chiller plant and a thermal energy storage upgrade.

And in 2010, Democracy Live released its LiveBallot application that made it possible for voters with disabilities, voters in the military and Americans living abroad to access their local ballot materials online. Used in more than 500 elections by U.S. voters in over 90 countries from Antarctica to Zambia, Democracy Live is the largest provider of Web balloting in the United States.

One of the reasons why both of these contracts adhere so well to the U.S. Communities standard is that they are both geared toward high-quality business practices. Trane’s innovative technology can help communities transform data into actionable insights and structure intelligence, it is committed to providing a clear picture of build­ing and system performance so that the outcomes are visible and sustainable over time. Meanwhile, Democracy Live’s leadership team together with its technical and project management person­nel has administered numerous projects of varying scope and complexity at the state, local and federal level.

Democracy Live is com­mitted to providing experience and proven expertise to assure customers of a well-managed and successful project, with sensitivity to customer time and resource needs.

By using both Trane and De­mocracy Live through U.S. Com­munities, counties nationwide will have access to these useful and exciting offerings for low pricing with high-quality service.

U.S. Communities provides county users with access to a wide variety of competitively solicited contracts with national suppliers that have committed to providing their lowest overall public agency pricing. For more information, please visit www.uscommunites.org.