Cooperative Buying NEW!

Contractor participation in the Cooperative Purchasing Program is voluntary. Our suite of e-Tools allows buyers to quickly conduct market research, place electronic requests for quotes or proposals, and place orders. Participating partners are identified by a cooperative purchasing icon in eLibrary and GSA Advantage!.

cooperative buying

Cooperative purchasing is an arrangement in which multiple businesses combine their buying requirements onto a single contract and aggregate volume to enhance their purchasing power. Participants can negotiate lower prices, reduce their time spent in procurement and contracting, and benefit from more favorable terms and conditions.

Joint solicitation is a form of cooperative purchasing that allows two or more agencies to aggregate their product and service requirements into a single solicitation effort. It gives suppliers a clear understanding of the volume requirements needed to support the parties.

A "purchasing cooperative" is a type of cooperative arrangement, often among businesses, to agree to aggregate demand to get lower prices from selected suppliers. Retailers' cooperatives are a form of purchasing cooperative. Cooperatives are often used by government agencies to reduce costs of procurement. Purchasing Cooperatives are used frequently by governmental entities, since they are required to follow laws requiring competitive bidding above certain thresholds. In the United States, counties, municipalities, schools, colleges and universities in the majority of states can sign interlocal agreements or cooperative contracts that allow them to legally use contracts that were procured by another governmental entity. The National Association of State Procurement Officials (NASPO) reported increasing use of cooperative purchasing practices in its 2016 survey of state procurement.[1] NASPO has noted the increasing popularity of cooperative purchasing but also recognises that, like any practice, "it can be done well - or poorly".[2]

Various schools, colleges and universities, municipalities, counties, municipal utility districts and other governmental entities sign an interlocal contract with HCDE, thus becoming members that can access any of the multitude of competitively bid and legally awarded contracts available through their cooperatives. To optimize processes, these three cooperatives were combined into Choice Partners national cooperative in 2012. Through use of Choice Partners, HCDE generates revenues to support the school districts within Harris County.[3]

Missouri State Statutes (Chapter 34, Chapter 37 and Chapter 67) authorize the State's Division of Purchasing to conduct a cooperative purchasing program, and allow eligible local governments, political subdivisions, and quasi-public governmental bodies to participate in the program.[6]

Many cooperative purchasing programs levy charges for usage and access. Fees may be assessed as an annual enrolment fee or a transaction fee such as a levy of 1% or 2% on the value of every purchase.[2]

NCPA (National Cooperative Purchasing Alliance) is a leading national government purchasing cooperative working to reduce the cost of goods and services by leveraging the purchasing power of public agencies in all 50 states. NCPA utilizes state of the art procurement resources and solutions that result in cooperative purchasing contracts that ensure all public agencies are receiving products and services of the highest quality at the lowest prices.

There are over 90,000 agencies nationwide from both the public and nonprofit sectors that are eligible to utilize NCPA's cooperative purchasing contracts, including school districts, local governments, and healthcare organizations

Is a leading national government purchasing cooperative working to reduce the cost of goods and services by leveraging the purchasing power of public agencies in all 50 states. NCPA utilizes state of the art procurement resources and solutions that result in cooperative purchasing contracts that ensure all public agencies are receiving products and services of the highest quality at the lowest prices.

A purchasing cooperative combines the knowledge and experience of all members so the co-op can implement more efficient processes. Each member offers their own skills and expertise to ensure the co-op employs the best practices possible.

For more than 100 years, NCBA CLUSA has provided education and advocacy to help cross-sector cooperatives thrive. Our team works to educate policymakers and the general public about cooperative priorities.

Since 1953, NCBA CLUSA has worked internationally to help communities improve their resources, knowledge and agency. Learn more about how we build resilient communities through cooperative enterprise. Have questions about our programs? Contact us online.

The Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA) uses non-competitive cooperative agreements to provide up to $900 million of American Rescue Plan (ARP) and Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) funding for state, tribal and territorial governments to purchase foods produced within the state or within 400 miles of the delivery destination to help support local, regional and underserved producers. The purpose of this program is to maintain and improve food and agricultural supply chain resiliency. The cooperative agreements allow the states, tribes and territories to procure and distribute local and regional foods and beverages that are healthy, nutritious, unique to their geographic areas and that meet the needs of the population. The food will serve feeding programs, including food banks, schools and organizations that reach underserved communities. In addition to increasing local food consumption, the funds will help build and expand economic opportunity for local and underserved producers.

All AMS grant and cooperative agreements include the AMS General Terms and Conditions as part of the Notice of Award and Grant Agreement. More information is provided in the most recent version of the AMS General Terms and Conditions under the Administrative and National Policy Requirements section.

Sourcewell combines the buying power of more than 50,000 government, education, and nonprofit organizations to save you time and money. Our cooperative purchasing program manages the solicitation requirements and offers members easy access to an established network of awarded contracts.

A Buying Group (or Cooperative) is the coming together of organizations, such as schools, that share a common goal, to leverage their combined purchasing power and spread out administrative burden of managing contracts. School Food Authorities (SFAs) should review the differences of each group to determine which type best benefits the SFA. Determine if the buying group (or cooperative):

Is a buying group that leverages purchasing power from a variety of members that may include public and/or private organizations and government and/or non-government organizations, including schools. Profits may accrue to the GPO through membership fees or other revenue streams. This type of buying group may elect to comply with Federal and State procurement regulations when awarding a contract for its members.

While technically not a school cooperative or buying group, this form of collective purchasing may consist of an informal association of schools, government and/or non-government organizations that come together to purchase goods or services. The awarded contract is between each SFA and the vendor.

The federal Cooperative Purchasing Program allows eligible entities to use available funds to purchase from pre-approved industry partners across jurisdictions. This program enables local, tribal, and state governments, along with public educational institutions, to purchase products for security, law enforcement, and IT through cooperative purchasing agreements. These purchases must be made through Schedule contracts.

Cooperative procurement can be beneficial for buyers, who may benefit from lower prices, lower administrative costs, and more favorable terms and conditions. Suppliers can also benefit from cooperative purchasing agreements.

In contrast to a contract established through a joint solicitation process, a contract that allows for piggybacking does not inform the awarded supplier(s) of what the actual purchasing volume will be over the life of the contract. As a result, suppliers may not be in a position to offer the most aggressive pricing. Thus, the piggyback approach to cooperative procurement is a more retrospective approach to cooperative procurement than joint solicitation because suppliers can only improve their pricing and terms after the contract has been utilized multiple times.

We offer the following list of cooperative purchasing programs in the U.S. and Canada for the convenience of the practitioner community. Program inclusion is provided at no charge and DOES NOT indicate endorsement by NIGP.

Use Pavilion to find suppliers and contracts from KCRPC as well as national and regional purchasing cooperatives, states and local agencies. Pavilion provides information about suppliers and contracts from KCRPC as well as national and regional purchasing cooperatives, states, and local agencies.

KCRPC is also affiliated with the Houston-Galveston Area Council through their cooperative buying program HGACBuy. HGACBuy has been in the cooperative purchasing business for more than 30 years. Their experience and volume purchasing power can provide significant savings for local governments on major equipment purchases or services.

KCRPC also partners with the Houston-Galveston Area Council (HGACBuy) to provide even more cooperative contracts to local governments in the MARC region. HGACBuy focuses on higher ticket, capital-intensive products and services that require technical and detailed specifications. Using HGACBuy contracts simplifies the purchase of heavy equipment, fire apparatus, and many other products that are difficult for an individual agency to bid out. 041b061a72