Sorry, NIU might save more money, but it will not get any free bikes or VCRs when it buys furniture from the government.

The U.S. government, the nation’s largest employer, sells surpluses of office materials which it stores in warehouses in Illinois. The government often makes these goods available for less than what it originally paid for them, said Joe Baird, associate director of materials management. NIU recently started to take better advantage of these bargains, Baird said.

NIU’s Office of Materials Management buys surplus furniture and office supplies from the federal property disposal section of the General Services Administration, and the Illinois Department of Central Management Services.

“There’s an unending supply of federal items available,” Baird said. Because of the storage costs involved, the government would rather sell surplus items than store them indefinitely in costly warehouses, he said.

NIU usually buys and picks up federal surplus goods from warehouses in Chicago and the suburbs, he said. Recently, NIU acquired 2,100 pieces of office furniture and equipment from a federal warehouse the government was closing in Chicago. “We brought back truckload after truckload” of items, he said.

The equipment included bookcases, chairs, portable chalkboards, desks, file cabinets, a sofa, lamps and projection screens. Baird said the equipment is worth about $197,000.

NIU has acquired goods from the state and federal government “on and off for several years.” However, in the last year, it has made a more concentrated effort to save money by buying from the government, Baird said.

Goods from the state of Illinois are free to NIU, because NIU is seen as a state agency, Baird said. However, the worth of a free state surplus good has to be weighed against the cost of a trip to Springfield, where state goods are picked up, he said.

As part of the state government system of reusing furniture, NIU takes unneeded used furniture to Springfield where it can be picked up and used by other governmental agencies, Baird said.