Higher education sourcing cooperatives are organizations that bring together colleges and universities to leverage their collective purchasing power. They negotiate contracts with suppliers on behalf of their member institutions, securing favorable terms and significant cost savings while streamlining their procurement processes.
Sourcing cooperatives provide a range of benefits to help you optimize your procurement strategies, including:
How you define higher ed sourcing cooperative matters. While there are many group purchasing organizations (GPOs), there is only one member-owned, nonprofit sourcing cooperative that focuses solely on the education sector—E&I Cooperative Services.
E&I operates on a membership basis. There’s no cost to join and no minimum purchase requirements, unlike some other GPOs. E&I exists to serve its members, which are school districts, colleges, and universities. With 6,000 academic institutions as members and a team of procurement professionals, E&I understands the unique challenges of higher ed.
Category experts manage accounts across a broad range of suppliers. By analyzing market trends, competitively sourcing suppliers, and having deep insight into specific goods and services, E&I negotiates contracts to meet member needs.
These cooperative agreements aggregate demand and create strong incentives for suppliers to offer bigger discounts and more favorable terms. Members often see significant savings compared to what they can negotiate on their own.
When you join a sourcing cooperative, you get access to top-tier suppliers, many of which might not respond to your individual RFPs. Contracts include:
You can also more easily find source suppliers that meet your initiatives, such as certified diverse suppliers and those offering sustainable solutions.
Sourcing cooperatives are also responsive to member needs. For example, as Title IX compliance continues to evolve, E&I has negotiated cooperative agreements with several firms that specialize in Title IX compliance to help its members navigate through the changes.
When you integrate cooperative agreements into your procurement processes, you can spend less time on purchasing and more time on strategic initiatives, such as:
This changes the role of procurement teams from buyers to strategic analysts, finding additional ways to save money, meet budget constraints, and ensure supplier performance.
As an E&I member, you can get a no-cost Strategic Spend Assessment (SSA), which analyzes your existing spending from your AP and P-card systems. SSAs examine commodity spending to look for cost savings by bringing it under contract or identify whether you could achieve greater savings by using an available cooperative agreement.
We often find areas where colleges and universities are managing more suppliers than necessary, missing out on consolidation efforts that could reduce their supplier base and provide greater volume discounts. Along the way, we can help you identify a future roadmap for cost savings, using both existing contracts and upcoming RFPs.
When you become a member of E&I Cooperative Services, you benefit from the collective experience of other members. For example, the EdPro Hub, powered by E&I, to is a digital community that shares insights and proven solutions to improve procurement processes. It’s much more than a networking platform. It includes virtual workshops and live events along with a wealth of resources and peer support to tackle your procurement challenges with confidence.
Learn about the benefits of membership at E&I Cooperative Services, which improve your procurement processes, save time, and reduce costs. View available cooperative agreements at E&I.
