According to the National Association of Educational Procurement (NAEP), as much as 38% of spending in higher education occurs using P-cards. P-cards can help streamline procurement, but they can also lead to the use of unapproved suppliers and non-contract spend—driving up costs and often bypassing compliance and approvals.
It’s not surprising. At the department level at colleges and universities, many purchases are made by educators and administrators focusing on teaching rather than procurement.
Bringing this spending under control—and under contract—using a group purchasing organization can significantly reduce costs and improve efficiency. How? Let’s examine the benefits of cooperative contracts and GPO provisions for higher education.
Cooperative contracts in higher education GPO programs are pre-negotiated agreements that enable significant cost savings. Leveraging the combined demand from multiple academic institutions, GPOs can negotiate volume discounts and more favorable terms. While the discounts can vary depending on the goods or services, suppliers, and purchase volumes, colleges and universities can often save 15% or more on procurement.
GPO provisions for higher education contracts typically include:
Partnering with higher education GPO programs and leveraging these provisions provides significant benefits.
One of the most compelling advantages of GPO programs is the substantial cost savings they provide. By leveraging the collective buying power of multiple institutions, GPOs negotiate favorable pricing with suppliers, often securing discounts that individual institutions would struggle to obtain on their own. Colleges and universities can see savings of 15% or more on everything from office supplies to laboratory equipment.
Navigating procurement is time-consuming and complex, but GPO contracts simplify it. By offering pre-negotiated agreements with a broad range of suppliers, these contracts eliminate the need to conduct lengthy bidding processes or negotiate contract terms independently.
This streamlined approach by higher education GPO programs frees up considerable time. Procurement teams using cooperative purchasing can focus more on strategy than buying.
GPOs can alleviate much of the administrative burden by handling competitive solicitation, contract negotiations, and regulatory compliance. This reduces the administrative workload and improves your overall efficiency.
You also get access to procurement specialists with deep industry knowledge, who can share innovative strategies and proven solutions. These experts can help you make better purchasing decisions and uncover additional opportunities to lower your costs.
Higher education institutions have strict procurement regulations and institutional policies.
GPOs help mitigate risks by vetting suppliers for financial stability, reliability, and compliance. Cooperative contracts often include performance guarantees and service agreements to ensure suppliers meet your expectations. This reduces risk and provides for greater accountability.
Whether you’re trying to rein in spending and bring spend under contract, or you just want more efficient procurement that saves money and reduces risk, higher education GPO programs and cooperative contract provisions can help.
E&I Cooperative Services exclusively serves the education sector. A nonprofit member-owned sourcing cooperative, E&I aggregates demand across its nearly 6,000-member academic institutions to achieve significant volume discounts across a wide cross-section of top-tier suppliers.
View available contracts through E&I Cooperative Services or connect with our team of procurement professionals to learn more about how we can help.
