What Is a GPO for Higher Education? Benefits of Being a Cooperative Member
Higher education procurement has become significantly more complex in recent years.
Institutions face higher expectations for efficiency, transparency, and financial responsibility while working with limited staffing and often smaller budgets. These challenges have led many colleges and universities to ask important questions: what is a GPO for higher education, and how can cooperative membership help them achieve better outcomes?
What is a GPO for Higher Education?
A group purchasing organization serves as a partner that centralizes procurement efforts on behalf of multiple institutions.
Instead of each institution issuing and managing individual RFPs, GPOs conduct these activities once on behalf of its members. The result is a portfolio of ready-to-use contracts that meet competitive solicitation requirements and generally produce significant cost savings.
Pooling demand is one of the strongest benefits of being a cooperative member. Combining the purchasing volume of hundreds or thousands of members results in more cost-effective pricing and better total value than standalone bids. These benefits are especially impactful for categories such as classroom supplies, technology, and facility services, where large volumes and consistent demand drive significant value.
Suppliers recognize the value of serving cooperative members and often respond with stronger discounts, more competitive bids, and higher-quality service. This helps you manage costs more effectively and maintain predictability in purchasing categories.
Other Benefits of Being a Cooperative Member
While reducing costs is a big benefit, there are other advantages that come from partnering with a GPO.
Structured Contracts to Reduce Workload
GPO contracts are pre-negotiated to meet compliance regulations for competitive solicitation[NK1] , allowing you to eliminate much of the administrative efforts with RFPs. This frees up your procurement staff to focus on higher-level strategic work instead of repetitive sourcing tasks.
You get:
- Shorter procurement cycle times
- Faster approvals
- Access to reliable contracts
- Standardized terms to simplify compliance
Expanded Access to Qualified and Reliable Suppliers
Many suppliers, including leading national and specialized providers, participate in cooperative solicitations because of the scale and visibility these agreements provide. This gives institutions access to a wider range of reputable suppliers without having to run separate solicitations for each category.
Cooperative members also benefit from more consistent service levels because suppliers often prioritize accounts that are part of a large, long-term contract.
Simplifying Compliance
Compliance with state, federal, and grant requirements can be complex. Buying cooperatives can provide you with the competitive sourcing documentation you need to validate compliance. This helps you reduce risk and simplify internal or stakeholder audits.
Industry Expertise and Contract Management Support
Partnership with a GPO gives you access to category experts who understand market conditions, supplier capabilities, and innovative solutions. This expertise can help you make better purchasing decisions upfront and get ongoing support throughout the contract lifecycle.
Strengthening Procurement Operations
The practical benefits of being a cooperative member become even clearer when you view them through the experiences of institutions that rely on GPOs.
“By strategically leveraging purchasing cooperatives and GPOs, we’re able to enhance our procurement processes,” said Bobby Bounds, Executive Director of Procurement Services at Texas A&M University. “Not only that, but we’re able to achieve some significant cost savings and improve the overall quality of our procurement services as well as the efficiency.”
The procurement team at SEWANEE, The University of the South, put it this way: “So what is a major advantage[NK2] of coop purchasing for higher ed institutions? You can start with savings from leveraging aggregated buying power to achieve volume discounts, but the benefits of education purchasing cooperatives go well beyond that. You can significantly streamline your procurement while tapping into industry expertise, complying with your competitive bidding requirements, and so much more.”
As you can see, the benefits go well beyond pricing into strategy, efficiency, compliance, and supplier relationships.
See also: Contract Management and Compliance Strategies for Growing Businesses
Cooperative Purchasing: More Than Just Reducing Costs
While reducing procurement costs is top of the list for most institutions, GPO members get much more than just a lower cost of goods and services. You get direct savings and also benefit from indirect savings, like reducing administrative overhead, reducing the procurement cycle timeline, and help managing[NK3] compliance and supplier performance.
As you continue to look for ways to expand your impact while managing limited resources, cooperative purchasing offers a scalable solution.
E&I is the only member-owned nonprofit sourcing cooperative that focuses solely on the education sector. Members at E&I Cooperative Services can access more than 215 cooperative agreements from top-tier suppliers and leverage significant volume discounts for cost savings. Learn more about the benefits of being a cooperative member at E&I Cooperative Services.
