Building a Strategic Procurement Plan: Services and Implementation Roadmap
Most procurement leaders recognize the need to move beyond transactional sourcing and toward more structured, category-driven approaches. The challenge here is not about committing to strategy, but about how to turn this strategy into an operating model that delivers measurable, repeatable value. A strategic procurement plan only succeeds when it is designed for execution. What […]
Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs) vs Cooperatives: A Complete Guide for Educational Institutions
The procurement landscape in higher education is changing in 2026, squeezing budgets and impacting how procurement teams have to work. The Enrollment Cliff Is Here 2026 is the first year of the projected 15-year downward trend in undergraduate enrollments. Cooperative models are becoming increasingly important for finding cost savings. Cost Pressures Are Increasing Continued concerns […]
GPO vs Cooperative Purchasing: Key Differences for Educational Procurement
A group purchasing organization negotiates contracts by aggregating demand across participating members. Institutions can opt in to use these contracts, often gaining significant cost reduction and accelerating procurement cycles. A cooperative can also act as a group purchasing organization and aggregates demand but is structured differently. Cooperatives are typically member-owned and member-driven. How they approach […]
Advantages and Disadvantages of Group Purchasing Organizations: What Procurement Leaders Need to Know
Group purchasing organizations are well established in higher education procurement. When used effectively, GPOs can deliver measurable value, often producing cost savings in the 20–25% range by combining demand across hundreds or even thousands of institutions. At the same time, experienced procurement leaders understand that GPOs are not right for every purchasing decision. Advantages of […]
Types of Group Purchasing Organizations: Finding the Right Model for Your Institution
There are nearly 800 GPOs (group purchasing organizations) in the U.S., across a wide variety of industry sectors. They are common in healthcare, where more than 96% of hospitals use group purchasing organizations to lower costs. Manufacturers, retailers, grocers, and academic institutions are also heavy adopters of GPO buying groups. In the education sector, however, […]
What Are GPOs and How Do Group Purchasing Organizations Work?
You’re three weeks into evaluating bids for a new laboratory equipment contract when another urgent request lands on your desk. IT needs network infrastructure quotes by the end of the month, and Facilities is asking about updated pricing on janitorial supplies. Meanwhile, your team is already stretched thin managing supplier relationships, ensuring compliance, and trying […]
What Is a GPO Contract? The Higher Education Buyer’s Complete Guide
It’s a fact of life in today’s higher education environment. Procurement teams are under constant pressure to do more with less, stretch budgets, and control costs, which has made sourcing decisions more complex. As such, colleges and universities are re-examining how they manage procurement and increasingly turning to group purchasing organizations. However, procurement teams must […]
Cooperative Purchasing vs. Traditional RFPs: Which Saves More Money in Higher Education?
The financial situation at many academic institutions might be best summed up as tenuous. Even for those that are thriving, margins are tighter and cost increases are shrinking budgets. Procurement teams are often stuck in the middle, trying to find the high-quality goods and services colleges and universities need to remain competitive while also trying […]
The 2026 List of Education Purchasing Cooperatives: How to Choose the Right Partner
Cooperative purchasing has become a staple in higher education procurement, aggregating demand across institutions to deliver volume discounts and streamlining procurement to reduce administrative overhead. With rising costs, limited staff time, and growing complexity, finding the right education purchasing cooperatives can yield significant results. Cooperative Purchasing Continues to Grow in Higher Education Why are institutions […]
GPO Pricing Explained: How Higher Education Institutions Save 10–15% on Procurement
While pricing increases may not reach the significant jumps we’ve seen over the past few years, costs for higher education continue to rise. The Higher Education Price Index (HEPI) shows that inflation at U.S. colleges and universities rose another 2.6% in fiscal year 2025 on top of a 2.4% increase the year before. State funding […]