It’s become a nearly universal mandate across higher education: reduce spending wherever possible.
This has forced educational institutions to make hard decisions to meet today’s financial challenges, and it impacts just about every area, including facility supplies and MRO spend. Many campuses are delaying maintenance (deferred maintenance) or putting off infrastructure investments. For example, a 2025 Inside Higher Ed survey in conjunction with Hanover Research reports that 36% of chief business officers in higher education see infrastructure and deferred maintenance as a top financial risk. Yet, the majority of institutions report only being able to fund about a quarter of the maintenance needs they’ve identified.
That’s a big gap, and it shows just how important it is to manage facility supplies and MRO spend closely.
Across many campuses, facility operations are splintered. While overall campus services may be handled centrally, you often see departments ordering facility supplies or repairs separately. Each might have its own vendors, processing, and pricing.
That’s a real issue. You may be paying more than you need to or missing out on opportunities to consolidate spending and leverage greater discounts. In most cases, off-contract spend is cutting into budgets in ways that might go unnoticed.
You need to take control of your facility supplies and MRO spend and bring it under one tent. This standardizes sources and reduces your costs.
MRO spend management is the process of tracking, analyzing, and optimizing how you source or buy your repair parts, services, and supplies. It’s part cost control and part strategic discipline.
The overarching goal is to get full visibility into where money is spent and find opportunities to reduce waste and inefficiencies that drive up costs. MRO spend management also ensures consistent quality and accountability.
Here are a few proven strategies that other colleges and universities have found lower costs without sacrificing quality.
Strategy | Description | Primary Benefit |
Centralize and Standardize Purchasing | Consolidate suppliers under a single contract structure to eliminate duplication, ensure consistent pricing, and simplify oversight. | Reduces administrative costs and strengthens supplier leverage. |
Implement eProcurement and Guided Buying Tools | Use digital platforms to automate approvals, enforce compliance, and track spend in real time across departments. | Improves spend visibility and reduces off-contract purchases. |
Leverage Cooperative Purchasing Contracts | Access competitively solicited, pre-negotiated contracts through cooperatives to secure favorable pricing and terms without issuing RFPs. | Saves time, ensures compliance, and maximizes volume discounts. |
Adopt Data-Driven Inventory Management | Use analytics to forecast demand, avoid overstocking, and minimize emergency purchases. | Cuts carrying costs and prevents waste from obsolete materials. |
Apply Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Analysis | Evaluate the long-term cost of each product, including maintenance, energy, and disposal. | Supports sustainable procurement and life-cycle savings. |
Strengthen Supplier Relationships and Diversity | Partner with reliable, diverse suppliers that understand campus needs and performance expectations. | Enhances service reliability and aligns procurement with institutional equity goals. |
Each of these contributes to a more resilient procurement model that balances operational efficiency with financial responsibility.
For procurement leaders, data tells a powerful story. By monitoring spend patterns and supplier performance, you can identify areas that need improvement and quantify the impact of your efforts. It also highlights the critical role procurement teams play in addressing today’s budget challenges.
Tracking key performance indicators allows you to demonstrate how proactive management and strategic planning can directly impact MRO spend, delivering upfront cost reductions and cost avoidance. Common performance indicators you may want to track include:
These go beyond your typical budget-vs-actual spend reports, which may only show cost reductions. With higher prices than in past years, such a comparison may show your work in a negative light when you’ve actually made significant contributions.
Taken together, data helps you demonstrate a concerted effort to build a sustainable culture of cost control and accountability.
Procurement and facilities teams really share a common goal: maintaining safe, efficient, and financially sustainable campuses. Managing facility supplies and optimizing MRO spend are powerful ways to achieve that.
E&I Cooperative Services provides competitively solicited cooperative contracts that simplify sourcing, improve compliance, and deliver measurable savings. As the only member-owned nonprofit sourcing cooperative that focuses exclusively on the education sector, you can achieve significant savings and streamline your MRO procurement, leveraging cooperative agreements from top-tier suppliers.
If you’re not tracking MRO spend by supplier and category, you’re flying blind. E&I’s cooperative contracts bring visibility and accountability to facilities procurement.