Colleges, universities, and school districts are all doing more with less these days. Procurement and finance teams are typically working with fewer resources (and often less financial backing), yet they are expected to deliver even greater value. There’s increased scrutiny and an unrelenting focus on cost control while providing everything academic institutions need to operate efficiently.
Cooperative purchasing has typically been seen as a way to save money, and it does deliver significant savings, but procurement leaders are leveraging cooperative buying as a strategic solution as well.
By aligning purchasing decisions with broader institutional goals, such as compliance, sustainability, and operational efficiency, procurement teams can elevate their role as strategists to unlock savings, reduce risk, and create greater flexibility.
A national purchasing cooperative is an organization that leverages the collective buying power of its members to negotiate competitively solicited contracts for goods and services. These contracts are then made available to members, allowing them to skip the time-consuming bid process. The solicitation process is designed to meet compliance regulations but tap into volume discounts by aggregating demand across purchasing co-op members.
To fully understand what a national purchasing cooperative is, it helps to clarify a few key terms:
There are different types of cooperatives. Some are national purchasing cooperatives, which offer contracts that are accessible to institutions across the country and are often tailored to broad compliance requirements. Others are region- or state-specific organizations that serve more narrow geographical areas.
Nonprofit cooperatives prioritize member value over profit, reinvesting earnings into better contracts and services. For-profit co-ops, by comparison, may prioritize shareholder returns.
Many national cooperative purchasing organizations are tailored to serve only government agencies or public entities or operate across industries to provide a broad range of goods and services. Then, there are those group purchasing organizations that serve a particular sector. For example, E&I Cooperative Services works exclusively in the education sector. As the only member-owned nonprofit sourcing cooperative that focuses solely on education, E&I leverages the cooperative purchasing power of more than 6,000 academic institutions to achieve significant savings and contracts with terms that fit the unique needs of education.
Choosing the right model ensures you are aligned with a purchasing partner that shares your mission, values, and procurement priorities.
Cooperative purchasing in education begins with an organization competitively soliciting and awarding contracts on behalf of its members. Sourcing experts and legal teams ensure that the process adheres to public procurement standards and that final contracts meet state and federal compliance requirements.
Members benefit by accessing these pre-negotiated contracts without having to initiate their own RFPs. Institutions can adopt the cooperative’s contract, streamlining procurement while retaining local decision-making authority.
Education-specific cooperatives like E&I go a step further by including member input in the sourcing process. From defining requirements to evaluating suppliers, member institutions shape solicitation and contract negotiations. E&I Cooperative Services offers hundreds of cooperative purchasing agreements across a wide range of goods and services:
READY-TO-USE PURCHASING AGREEMENTS THROUGH E&I COOPERATIVE SERVICES | ||
Athletics | Food & Food Services | Offices & Classrooms |
Facilities & MRO Services | Information Technology (IT) | Professional, Consulting & Administrative |
Financial Services | Logistics & Travel | Research & Scientific |
Of course, the biggest benefit of partnering with a national purchasing cooperative is the cost savings. Academic institutions can typically save between 10% and 15% in procurement costs, not to mention the staff time and cost of administration. Suppliers are incentivized to offer lower pricing and more favorable terms because of the bulk of business cooperative purchasing agreements represent.
Beyond cost savings, national cooperative purchasing includes other benefits.
National purchasing cooperatives ensure that contracts are competitively solicited, reducing legal risk and meeting the scrutiny of auditors and regulators. Institutions can purchase with confidence, knowing that cooperative contracts adhere to applicable laws and regulations.
A purchasing cooperative typically negotiates longer-term contracts, say three to five years. This approach helps build long-term supplier partnerships. Institutions can influence supplier service levels, co-develop offerings, and standardize across categories, making procurement a more strategic contributor to institutional success.
Cooperative purchasing accelerates procurement. With competitively solicited contracts already in place, you can quickly source what you need without getting bogged down in months-long bid processes.
Sourcing qualified suppliers and obtaining best pricing can be challenging when you try to meet specific goals. Whether you’re trying to ensure supplier diversity, meet sustainability goals, or address other institutional mandates, a national purchasing cooperative has a broader reach to attract top-tier suppliers that meet your needs.
Whether it’s emergency procurement during a crisis or streamlining procurement across decentralized campuses, cooperative contracts allow you to respond quickly without sacrificing due diligence.
In each of these scenarios, a national purchasing cooperative serves as a scalable procurement infrastructure that supports both day-to-day needs and long-term strategy.
Following these four proven strategies can help you maximize the benefits you get.
Start by analyzing institutional spend and identifying categories with high administrative burden, fragmented suppliers, or high compliance risk. Cooperative contracts can be used strategically to simplify and strengthen these areas.
One of the biggest challenges in maximizing the benefits of cooperative buying is getting buy-in from departments, especially across decentralized or multi-campus environments. Without guidance, localized purchasing may create maverick spending or limit the ability to take advantage of contracted rates and volume discounts.
Bring finance, IT, academics, and operations into conversations early. Their input helps makes sure their needs are met and increases adoption across the institution.
Embed cooperative contracts into your ERP or eProcurement platform to ensure ease of access and consistent use. For example, adding punch-out catalogs for preferred suppliers who offer contracted rates can help guide purchasers to make better decisions.
Monitor cooperative contract usage and supplier performance. Use KPIs to measure adoption, savings, and service quality. Expand successful contracts across additional departments or campuses.
Through this process, institutions convert cooperative contracts into strategic levers. Cooperative purchasing becomes not just a tool, but a pathway to more strategic procurement.
Despite the increasing adoption of cooperative purchasing strategies across education institutions, there several myths continue to prevent teams from fully leveraging their potential. Dispelling these misconceptions is essential to maximize the strategic benefits of a national cooperative purchasing agreement.
Here are a few of the common myths and the reality.
MYTH | REALITY |
You lose control over procurement decisions. | Cooperative contracts provide flexibility while saving time. Institutions still control supplier selection and implementation. Cooperative agreements are not mandates; they are resources you can adopt and adapt to meet local needs.
|
Cooperative contracts aren’t compliant. | National purchasing cooperatives follow public procurement laws and meet competitive bidding standards in most jurisdictions. These contracts are reviewed by legal experts to ensure they meet state and federal requirements. |
Cooperatives are only for commodity purchases. | Contracts now cover high-value and niche categories like IT consulting, enterprise software, and lab research services (not just office supplies). Cooperative contracts are strategically developed to address complex needs and not only basic transactions. |
Cooperative contracts limit supplier diversity. | Many national purchasing cooperatives prioritize contracts with diverse, local, or small business suppliers. Institutions can align their purchasing strategy with diversity initiatives and local economic development goals through cooperative buying agreements. |
Using a cooperative is a sign of a weak procurement team. | In fact, top-performing procurement departments use cooperative purchasing as a strategic tool to extend their reach, improve efficiency, and better serve institutional goals. Leveraging a cooperative serves as an extension of your procurement team. |
Another myth is that once you join a cooperative, you are locked into using certain suppliers or have to spend at certain levels. That is true for some purchasing cooperatives, but not all. For example, The Association of Educational Purchasing Agencies (AEPA) is a consortium of 26 states, but requires 60% of states to participate in RFP contract awards to remain active. This may or may not yield the results individual academic institutions or campuses need. By comparison, E&I Cooperative Services does not have any minimum purchasing requirements. Members are free to opt-in to any cooperative purchasing contracts they want.
The right cooperative purchasing agreement starts with the right partner. Institutions should take a strategic approach and evaluate potential partners based on specific criteria.
The most effective cooperative partnerships begin with shared values. Institutions should ask whether a cooperative exists to serve the education sector or to generate profit for external shareholders.
Education-focused, nonprofit cooperatives are more likely to prioritize member needs and reinvest resources into value-added services and improved contracts. This alignment helps to make sure your procurement strategy supports the broader mission of your institution.
Governance matters. A lot.
Transparent decision-making processes, open contract evaluations, and member involvement are critical to building trust and long-term value.
A cooperative should be accountable to its members, not to outside investors or boards with unrelated priorities. Member-driven governance ensures that contracts, services, and initiatives are built around what its member institutions truly need.
Procurement in education comes with its unique challenges: There are often complex compliance requirements, decentralized purchasing structures, and evolving technology and instructional needs. Partnering with a cooperative that specializes in education ensures access to contracts and services designed for academic institutions. Sector expertise leads to better contract outcomes and more relevant supplier partnerships.
E&I Cooperative Services focuses exclusively on education, so its contracts are developed with direct input from member institutions and built to support the academic, operational, and strategic goals of academic institutions nationwide. With E&I, you get a team of procurement professionals who understand your mission, will champion your needs, and deliver cooperative purchasing excellence.
Strategic procurement through cooperative partnerships is not just about securing the lowest price. It’s about creating sustainable value for your institution. National purchasing cooperatives can support a more proactive, data-backed approach to procurement by offering:
These components collectively strengthen procurement’s role as a value driver within the institution, and cooperatives like E&I offer the tools and support to make it happen.
National cooperative purchasing has evolved from a transactional convenience into a strategic imperative. By streamlining processes, increasing compliance, and improving supplier engagement, cooperative contracts allow education institutions to elevate procurement. It’s no longer a back-office function. Procurement teams are now taking the lead in helping solve some of today’s increasing budget challenges for long-term success.
At E&I Cooperative Services, we exist to support our members with education-exclusive contracts that deliver strategic advantages. Join E&I today and unlock the full potential of cooperative procurement excellence.
