Frequently Asked Questions

To check your institution’s membership status, please use the Member Locator to search by institution name or city/state. To find out who at your institution signed up, or to receive a copy of the application, please email the Membership Department or call the Member Hotline at 877.myeandi (877.693.2634).

Once your institution is a member of E&I, any employee can create their own username & password for the website. Click on the Registration Form to get started.

After you have logged into your account, click on My Profile. You will see your member number listed at the bottom of your profile page.

Membership in the Cooperative is free, with no minimum usage requirements. You can also become a voting member for a one-time fee of $5, which covers one share of E&I stock. To join, simply submit the appropriate Membership Application. Check out our Why E&I and Membership Benefits to see all the benefits of membership. Your membership will remain active until you notify us in writing to cancel it.

E&I is the only member-owned, non-profit sourcing cooperative exclusively focused on serving the education community. Because education is our only focus, we are uniquely equipped with the knowledge and experience to meet the specialized needs of our member institutions. As a true cooperative E&I also offers a number of benefits that many GPOs do not.

Each year E&I’s Board of Directors authorizes the Cooperative to pay out a percentage of the company’s net income, if any, in the form of patronage. Patronage refunds are determined based on an individual member’s use of E&I contracts over the last calendar year. The video on this page explains the value of patronage for our members. For additional patronage information for your institution, please email the Membership Department or call the Member Hotline at 877.myeandi (877.693.2634). 

Many of our suppliers offer exclusive contract incentives and rebates, as well as alternative options to help you save more. Please refer to the Incentive and Rebates page on our website. Rebates are paid annually based on the agreed upon contract term.

You can use our Find My Rep tool to select your state and institution and see who your E&I Representative(s) is, along with their contact information

Call the Member Hotline at 877.myeandi (877.693.2634) or email us at membership@eandi.org.

Current and upcoming RFPs can be viewed on the Open Solicitations and Upcoming RFPs page. You can learn more about our RFP process here.

E&I is committed to developing a world class Supplier Diversity program which reflects the diversity commitments of our members and the multicultural communities in which they serve. You can find a list of our contracts who qualify as Tier 1 diverse suppliers, or who offer diverse spending solutions as part of their product and/or service offerings on our  Supplier Diversity page. For questions about diversity supplier inclusion in our contracting process, or for additional information on our program, please contact Titus Martin, Executive Director, Supplier Diversity. 

Log in to the E&I website and go to the Contract Navigator. Select the supplier page(s) you are interested in to be directed to that supplier’s contract Information and contract documentation.

Please refer to the Contract Updates page for the most recent updates including new contracts, amendments, and expirations.

We continually review our competitive solicitation process to ensure our contracting methods adhere to the highest standards of public procurement. See our Compliance page for more information, or contact your E&I Member Representative for questions about this process or the cooperative purchasing laws in your state.

All Lead Public Agency contracts available through E&I have been competitively solicited by a Lead Public Agency in accordance with government purchasing regulations. Here’s a list of E&I contracts that were developed through a Lead Public Agency. 

Because E&I is a non-profit, and not a state agency, we are not considered an Interlocal Agreement. Most of our members that require Interlocal Agreements use board resolutions; please email compliance@eandi.org for a copy of a board resolution template. If you are already a member, getting the board resolution approved by your board would potentially be sufficient for the Interlocal Agreement.

E&I has developed a strategic and consultative approach to help members rationalize and streamline their sourcing and spend activities. The Cooperative’s Strategic Spend Assessment (SSA) is a data-driven analysis service that takes a critical look at your institution’s spend to find opportunities for cost savings, revenue generation, supplier consolidation, and strategic roadmap alignment. The SSA is completely free to E&I members. Check out this FAQ for all the details on how this innovative service can help you create valuable sourcing efficiencies.

Yes! E&I can help you drive your eProcurement strategy on many fronts, including enhancing your punchout strategy and enabling more contracts. Find out how we can help here.

Many of our contracts offer products and/or services to help you achieve your institution’s sustainability initiatives. Many E&I suppliers also commit to sustainable manufacturing and/or distribution practices. You can find out more by visiting our Sustainability Solutions page.