purchasing process around multi-year commitments.“ We partnered with our procurement team, and we redesigned our purchase orders,” she said.“ We were able to move to multi-year purchase agreements and that really helped us.
“ The benefits became clear during the pandemic, when lead times for new equipment increased dramatically across the industry,” Oca continued.“ Because JEA had already implemented longer-term agreements, we were better positioned to manage delivery disruptions and maintain access to needed equipment.”
Today, JEA maintains a five-year budget and continuously adjusts replacement plans as costs change. Oca noted that some medium-duty equipment still carries lead times of 18 to 24 months, making long-range forecasting essential.
Strong communication with suppliers also remains a key component of the strategy at JEA.“ The biggest thing for us is strong vendor relationships,” Oca said.“ We meet with our vendors often to discuss lead times and costs, and that’ s how we’ re able to be successful.”
Dominion Energy took a different but equally successful path to addressing equipment procurement challenges. Atkins described an effort to diversify manufacturers and suppliers, helping the utility avoid overreliance on a single source of equipment.
To begin, the company conducted pilot programs involving multiple vehicle manufacturers and upfit vendors, allowing the fleet to evaluate performance before making major commitments.“ We reached out to multiple vendors and had trucks built that we could try to see if they would be a good fit for our crews and operations,” Atkins said.
“ Once we were moving toward diversifying manufacturers, we were able to balance our approach to sourcing vehicles and equipment that was both practical and cost-effective,” Atkins continued.“ We also began requiring regular status updates from vendors
Dominion Energy approaches rightsizing through a combination of replacement standards, utilization reporting, maintenance analysis and telematics technology. The utility establishes replacement benchmarks and uses monthly reports to evaluate equipment performance. The insights support more informed decisions about redeployment, retention or replacement.
to stay informed of potential delivery issues.”
Another important initiative at Dominion Energy involved local upfitting capacity. According to Atkins, the fleet conducted a market study to identify regional and local vendors capable of supporting fleet equipment builds.“ One of the biggest delays we were experiencing was once the chassis reached the upfitter,” he explained.“ The effort uncovered several partners that could help reduce bottlenecks once chassis arrived for customization.”
Right Balance
One of the most engaging parts of the discussion centered on standardization. Fleet managers often face competing demands: operators want equipment tailored to their unique needs while fleet departments seek consistency that simplifies procurement, maintenance and technician training.
Oca described a balanced approach at JEA. The utility employs standard technical specifications for light- and medium-duty vehicles. At the same time, operating departments can select from a defined set of options to accommodate different needs.
“ We have our standard specs,” Oca said.“ That includes all of our core features for safety and towing, and everything on our standard truck is set up the same way. And then we have different options that meet departmental needs.”
She noted that JEA’ s largest medium-duty platform supports
Fall 2026 | Telecom & Utility Construction 5