Cook County, Ill., has hired CST Fleet Services to evaluate and assess the operations and maintenance of the fleets owned and managed by the County, according to a release from the company. The County selected CST after issuing an RFP (request for proposal) for assessment services last fall.

Jon White, Partner of CST Fleet Services stated, “We are very enthusiastic about supporting Cook County with this evaluation, assessment and making some recommendations. The Cook County executive management has the foresight to seek operational and maintenance efficiency improvements, and we feel our experience and analysis work will lead to improvements in the fleet’s performance for the citizens of Cook County, and most likely have an improved return on the vehicle asset investment.”

The County operates slightly less than 2,000 vehicle and equipment assets.

For this project, CST will assess fleet best practices, study fleet utilization and efficiency, model fleet management organization and optimization, study the fleet’s carbon footprint baseline, and study fleet acquisition practices.

White said the project started in January and the assessment report with recommendations is scheduled for completion in April.

In 2011, the County considered consolidating fleet services with the City of Chicago.