Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES): The Ultimate Guide to Educational Purchasing Cooperatives
Many procurement teams continue to rely on traditional, isolated purchasing practices even as the demands placed on academic institutions grow more complex. Fragmented and decentralized procurement can produce: Inconsistent pricing Duplicated administrative effort Limited visibility into spend Lost opportunities to lower costs When you consider that, on average, more than half of all purchasing […]
Cooperative Purchasing Agreements in Education: Your Guide to Federal Compliance and Savings
Education funding often comes with strict compliance requirements, especially when federal grants and funding are involved. Procurement teams must manage this complexity while ensuring compliance with federal, state, and institutional regulations, securing competitive pricing, and documenting every step of the sourcing process. It’s a lot of work, and it must be done correctly. Cooperative purchasing […]
Procurement Savings Through GPO Membership: A Complete Guide for Educational Institutions
By leveraging cooperative contracts, procurement organizations are reducing administrative workloads, improving purchasing consistency, and benefiting from competitive pricing negotiated through the combined volume of thousands of institutions, resulting in procurement savings. The Growing Impact of GPO Membership on Education Procurement Group purchasing is growing rapidly as a way to achieve procurement savings. Across industries, organizations […]
Benefits of a Cooperative: How Purchasing Cooperatives Deliver Value
Higher education procurement is undergoing a significant period of change, balancing rising expectations for speed, transparency, and efficiency with significant budget challenges. Traditional procurement in education is built heavily around resource-intensive RFP cycles. Yet, as demands increase, this process is harder to justify. Today, procurement leaders are looking for solutions to save time and lower […]
Volume Discounts and Bulk Purchasing: Maximizing Your Institution’s Purchasing Power
Nearly every area in education is experiencing increasing costs at the same time as funding levels and budgets remain uncertain. Volume discounts and bulk purchasing have become increasingly important in overcoming these challenges to reduce per-unit costs and strengthen negotiating power. How Volume Discounts Drive Immediate and Long-Term Savings Bulk purchasing drives volume discounts, but […]
Benefits of Group Purchasing Organizations: How Cooperatives Benefit Educational Institutions
Procurement teams in the education sector are being asked to deliver stronger value in an increasingly complex purchasing environment. Costs are rising; resources are tight, and compliance expectations continue to grow. As institutions look for ways to secure better pricing and reduce their administrative workloads, group purchasing organizations (GPOs) have become strategic partners. Cooperative supplier […]
E&I Membership Benefits: The Ultimate GPO for Cost Savings and Procurement Solutions
The outlook for academic institutions includes a now familiar landscape: enrollment, political, and cost pressures are expected to challenge most institutions. In higher ed, revenue projections are lower. State budgets for K–12 are trending flat to down. The pressure for procurement teams to reduce costs can feel unrelenting. E&I Cooperative Services plays a unique and […]
Cooperative Education Programs vs. Purchasing Cooperatives: Understanding the Difference
The word cooperative comes up regularly on campuses, but can mean completely different things. Although they share a similar context in working together, cooperative education programs are vastly different than cooperative procurement. So, when you’re talking about cooperatives with educators and administrators, you’ll want to clarify which type of cooperative program you’re talking about so […]
Cooperative Educational Services Explained: How BOCES Transforms School Procurement
One of the most effective ways for school districts to manage rising operational costs is to pool resources. In New York and Colorado, Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) provide educational and institutional cooperative services for K–12 districts to share staffing, funding, technology, and procurement functions. BOCES helps designated school districts within specific service areas […]
What Is an Educational Cooperative? Understanding Modern Procurement Partnerships
Higher education procurement teams face increasing complexity. Budgets are under pressure, compliance requirements continue to expand, and many offices operate with lean staff. In this environment, everyone is looking for ways to stretch resources, improve efficiency, and maintain strong governance. The term educational cooperative appears often in these conversations, but it can mean two very […]