The Evolution of Education Cooperatives: From Isolated Purchasing to Collaborative Procurement Networks

In a recent survey of nearly 3,500 higher education procurement and organizational leaders, 24% said that improving institutional agility and resilience is a higher priority than simply cutting spend. While cost reduction is always at or near the top of the list, procurement officers today are looking at purchasing through a more strategic lens, with leveraging cooperation in education procurement as a way to streamline processes and protect supply chains.

Educational Cooperation: A Multifaceted Analysis

Traditionally, educational institutions handled procurement on their own as isolated tasks, running individual RFPs and negotiations, then managing contracts. Spend was often spread among a large number of purchasers, and off-contract spend was common. In some cases, this off-contract spend made up as much as half of all purchases, bypassing opportunities for contract rate savings.

As complexity grew and budgets tightened, institutions began to explore more collaborative approaches. Cooperation in education created a shared procurement model to improve efficiency and strategic sourcing. Working together, academic institutions can improve buying power, streamline procurement, and significantly reduce their administrative burden.

Collaborative Procurement Across Campuses

You may think the cooperative purchasing is limited to small systems that don’t buy in bulk like larger systems. In fact, cooperative contracts benefit even the largest institutions. Let’s take a look at a few examples of how cooperation in education provided savings.

State University of New York (SUNY)

The State University of New York (SUNY) targeted maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) as a likely place to reduce costs. When you consider that the SUNY system was spending $20 million across 6,400 vendors, you can appreciate where efficiencies would make a meaningful difference.

Working with E&I Cooperative Services, SUNY was able to utilize a cooperative agreement with Grainger, resulting in nearly $2 million in savings while also significantly reducing the administrative support required.

University of California

The University of California operates one of the most advanced systemwide procurement functions in higher education, coordinating sourcing across all 10 campuses and six medical centers and accounting for more than $10 billion in annual spend. By coordinating procurement across all of its properties and sharing strategic sourcing and supplier contract optimization, UC delivered benefits equal to 4% of its addressable spend.

Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR)

Texas DIR provides cooperative contracts that serve K–12, higher education, and public institutions statewide. By centralizing competitive solicitations for technology, cybersecurity, software, and IT services, DIR reduces its administrative burden. Negotiating collectively results in significant savings across a portfolio of more than $3 billion in annual spend.

Each of these approaches took slightly different paths. UC aggregated its own demand. Texas took a statewide approach. SUNY chose to partner with E&I, a national sourcing cooperative. While each model delivers value, national cooperative purchasing networks offer distinct advantages that extend beyond what individual institutions or regional systems can typically achieve on their own.

Benefits of National Cooperative Purchasing Networks

National cooperative purchasing networks allow academic institutions of any size or location to access volume pricing discounts through combining demand with their peers.

Benefits include:

• Cost efficiencies and better pricing: Aggregated demand provides leverage that individual institutions often cannot achieve on their own.
• Reduced operational friction: Shared solicitations and negotiated contracts eliminate redundant RFPs and free up procurement resources.
• Access to expertise and market intelligence: Cooperative networks have subject-matter experts who can help guide sourcing strategies, supplier evaluation, and risk mitigation.
• Improved risk management and compliance: Centralized procurement practices help standardize contract terms, ensure compliance, and support audit readiness.
• Greater institutional resilience and adaptability: As institutions face shifting budgets, regulatory changes, and supply chain uncertainty, cooperative networks offer flexibility and scale without additional internal burden.

See also: What Common Sales Tax Mistakes Put Businesses at Risk of Audits and Penalties?

How to Evaluate Cooperative Networks for Strategic Fit

Educational cooperation: a multifaceted analysis requires careful evaluation of potential partners. When evaluating a cooperative network, procurement teams should consider:

• The breadth and depth of the contract portfolio and product/service categories covered
• Transparency of competitive solicitation and contract award processes
• Supplier diversity and sustainability practices aligned with institutional values
• Tools for spend analysis and reporting to support strategic sourcing and data-driven decision-making
• Resources to share best practices and learn from a community of procurement professionals

Cooperation Education Practices in Procurement

Procurement teams today are doing so much more than just handling transactions. Team members are working strategically and leveraging efficiencies wherever possible to reduce costs and streamline systems. With the current economic environment, procurement teams are playing an even greater role, helping academic institutions maximize purchasing power and reducing administrative costs.

Cooperation is key to success.

E&I Cooperative Services lets you tap into significant volume discounts by leveraging the collective buying power of its 6,000+ members. Because E&I is the only nonprofit, member-owned, national sourcing cooperative, contracts are designed to meet the unique needs of the education sector.

There is no cost to become a member at E&I Cooperative Services and no minimum purchasing obligation. View more than 200 ready-to-use cooperative contracts to find areas where you can save time and money.