The Washington-based National Association of Counties' “Cost Saving Programs for Counties” initiative uses volume purchasing to lower costs of products and services for cities and counties. Most of the services have been competitively solicited and the resulting contracts can be used immediately. For example, Dallas County, Texas, contracted for a debt collection service with Reston, Va.-based MAXIMUS, pre-employment background checks performed by Woodland Hills, Calif.-based Employee Relations, and an insurance collection service to help pay for environmental cleanup costs conducted by Washington-based Dickstein Shapiro. To view those programs and more, visit www.naco.org and click on “Cost Saving Programs for Counties.”