What is Cooperative Purchasing?

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.

Piggybacking is another form of cooperative procurement. It occurs when an agency uses another agency’s contract, even though it was not involved in the original solicitation and contract. Continue reading about GEP’s procurement software and procurement managed services.