Purchasing cooperative
Encyclopedia
A purchasing cooperative is a type of cooperative
arrangement, often among businesses, to agree to aggregate demand
to get lower prices from selected suppliers. Retailers' cooperative
s are a form of purchasing cooperative. It is often used by government agencies to reduce costs of procurement
.
Purchasing Cooperatives are used most frequently by governmental entities, since they are required to follow laws requiring competitive bidding above certain thresholds. Counties, municipalities, schools, colleges and universities in the majority of states can sign an interlocal agreement or contract that allows them to legally use a contract that was procured by another governmental entity.
An example of this is Harris County Department of Education, a governmental organization with three procurement cooperatives: Choice Facility Partners, a facility services cooperative the Gulf Coast Cooperative, a food cooperative primarily serving schools; and the HCDE Purchasing Cooperative, offering more than 275 vendor contracts for commodities.
Schools, colleges and universities, municipalities, counties, municipal utility districts and other governmental entities sign a interlocal contract with HCDE, thus becoming members that can access any of the multitude of competitively bid and legally awarded contracts available in through their cooperatives.
Cooperative
A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...
arrangement, often among businesses, to agree to aggregate demand
Demand
- Economics :*Demand , the desire to own something and the ability to pay for it*Demand curve, a graphic representation of a demand schedule*Demand deposit, the money in checking accounts...
to get lower prices from selected suppliers. Retailers' cooperative
Retailers' cooperative
A retailers' cooperative is a type of cooperative which employs economies of scale on behalf of its retailer members. Retailers' cooperatives use their purchasing power to acquire discounts from manufacturers and often share marketing expenses. It is common for locally owned grocery stores,...
s are a form of purchasing cooperative. It is often used by government agencies to reduce costs of procurement
Procurement
Procurement is the acquisition of goods or services. It is favourable that the goods/services are appropriate and that they are procured at the best possible cost to meet the needs of the purchaser in terms of quality and quantity, time, and location...
.
Purchasing Cooperatives are used most frequently by governmental entities, since they are required to follow laws requiring competitive bidding above certain thresholds. Counties, municipalities, schools, colleges and universities in the majority of states can sign an interlocal agreement or contract that allows them to legally use a contract that was procured by another governmental entity.
An example of this is Harris County Department of Education, a governmental organization with three procurement cooperatives: Choice Facility Partners, a facility services cooperative the Gulf Coast Cooperative, a food cooperative primarily serving schools; and the HCDE Purchasing Cooperative, offering more than 275 vendor contracts for commodities.
Schools, colleges and universities, municipalities, counties, municipal utility districts and other governmental entities sign a interlocal contract with HCDE, thus becoming members that can access any of the multitude of competitively bid and legally awarded contracts available in through their cooperatives.