What Are Group Purchasing Organizations for Higher Education?
Group purchasing organizations for higher education competitively solicit contracts or create negotiated contracts, contracts on behalf of multiple organizations. With a focus on reducing costs and streamlining procurement, higher education group purchasing organizations (GPOs) have become increasingly popular. In this article, we will explain how GPOs work and how to find the right partner for […]
What Is a Cooperative Agreement for Education?
If you search online for “what is a cooperative agreement for education,” you will see that a cooperative agreement is generally a written agreement between faculty and researchers or between educational institutions. They indicate a mutual interest in collaborating on academic research without committing the participants to any particular obligations. When it comes to procurement, […]
What’s Better for Higher Education: Grants vs. Cooperative Agreements?
Higher education institutions today face complex financial challenges. Securing reasonable funding amid economic uncertainty and concerns about enrollment is increasing the need for soliciting grants and cooperative agreements as funding mechanisms. While both mechanisms serve to support higher education goals, they differ in their procurement processes and sponsor involvement. Grants are typically awarded based on […]
Benefits of Cooperative Agreements for Higher Education
Higher education institutions face increasing pressure to provide high-quality education while controlling costs. One proven strategy is leveraging the power of cooperative agreements for higher education to stretch procurement dollars. What Is a Cooperative Purchasing Agreement in Higher Education: The Benefits Cooperative agreements allow groups of colleges or universities to combine their requirements for products […]
Cooperative Agreements for Education: Purchasing, Benefits, and More
The landscape in higher education is changing rapidly. Education budgets are shrinking across multiple fronts heading into 2024. Several key federal stimulus programs expire, leaving gaps many institutions have relied upon. State funding is diminishing, too, in areas with inflation-driven cost spikes. Personnel costs continue rising to retain faculty and staff in a competitive labor […]
What Are the Benefits of Education Group Purchasing
Cooperative purchasing has fundamentally shifted how educational institutions source everything from cafeteria food to campus construction materials to technology services. By leveraging their collective buying power, colleges and universities nationwide are saving money and streamlining processes, enabling them to refocus their administration teams on strategic goals. The Benefits of Education Group Purchasing The value that […]
What Is a Group Purchasing Organization in Education?
Procurement in education is constantly evolving. Lately, there’s been increased pressure to reduce costs and meet more stringent social responsibility and financial governance policies. Many procurement teams are being forced to do more with less due to downsizing or increased volume—all while dealing with budget constraints and significant price volatility. Inflation is taking a toll, […]
Why You Should Consider an Education Group Purchasing Organization (GPO)
The headlines these days are not exactly encouraging. Budget deficits in California are calling for wide spending cuts at schools and colleges. Sunsetting of federal dollars looks to reduce budgets by 8% in Colorado and a loss of $2.8 billion in Chicago schools alone. School districts in Michigan and elsewhere are laying off staff. As […]
Higher Education Group Purchasing Organizations 101: What You Need to Know
Financial concerns continue to spread in higher education. San Francisco State University, Dickinson State University, St. Norbert College, and Christian Brothers University have all announced multi-million-dollar budget cuts amid significant deficits, and these are just a handful of recent cases. Even well-established higher education institutions are seeing significant budget constraints. Concerns over enrollment declines, unpredictable […]
Modern Trends in Procurement for Higher Education in 2024 and Beyond
Rising prices and shrinking budgets are just part of the landscape, continuing a procurement trend into 2024 that has been ongoing for several years. While overall enrollment may have returned closer to norms, declining enrollment in incoming freshman classes continues to trigger warning bells about further belt-tightening ahead. Procurement teams have a big job to […]
