United Rentals Inc and RSC Equipment Rental Inc have won three-year contracts from a Texas-based nationwide co-operative for members' rental of equipment including forklifts.

"This is the first time we have awarded contracts for rental equipment," says Ron Schmalle, co-ordinator of specifications and bids for the buying program of the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC). Previously, the independent entity focused primarily on purchase contracts for heavy capital equipment and the acquisition of new automobiles, trucks and fire apparatus.

H-GAC, a voluntary association of local governments, employs about 200 staff, including 18 in the buying program.

H-GAC in Houston has operated the buying program within Texas for three decades and obtained permission several years ago from the state of Texas to extend the offering across the US. "We are now in 43 states and have about 5,000 members including local government agencies and certain non-profits," Schmalle notes. "We provide a service to the members, go through the competitive process and get as good a price as they could on their own."

Separately, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts operational services division awarded a statewide contract for infrastructure and support equipment to United Rentals' North American subsidiary. The bid was submitted in the name of Alyza Bar-Din, manager of government and institutional sales for the United Rentals location in Braintree, Massachusetts. The Massachusetts contract provides for rental of products daily, weekly or monthly with a six-month maximum rental.

"We are extremely pleased to have been selected to perform under these two contracts, which give us an opportunity to strengthen our existing relationships with state and local governments and expand the range of agencies we support," says Robert Caudle, director of government solutions for United Rentals. "We place a high value on these partnerships and are prepared to serve them with an expert understanding of government needs."

United Rentals employs about 8,400 staff and has about 580 rental locations in North America.

RSC had a positive comment. "This new contract . . . allows us to better serve existing and prospective government customers," says Nick Kahler, RSC manager for sales to local governments and the US General Services Administration. "State and local government customers place special value on RSC's 24/7 customer service and our industry-leading safety and preventive maintenance programs."

RSC employs about 4,300 staff and has about 464 branch locations in the US and Canada.

Publicly traded United and RSC each reported business declines in financial reports for the third quarter ended 30 September.

Greenwich, Connecticut-based United Rentals reported breaking even on sales of USD592 million versus a profit of USD74 million on sales of USD873 million in the previous year's comparable quarter.

Scottsdale, Arizona-based parent firm RSC Holdings Inc reported a loss of USD5.8 million on sales of USD315.6 million versus a profit of USD42.3 million on sales of USD466.9 million in the previous year's comparable quarter.

In addition to the United and RSC pacts, H-GAC awarded other rental-equipment contracts to Royal Restrooms of Garden City, Georgia; Pro-Kleen Industrial Services Inc of Lancaster, Ohio; Godwin Pumps of America of Bridgeport, New Jersey; and Aggreko LLC of Pearland, Texas.