The National Institute of Governmental Purchasing defines cooperative purchasing as “the combining of requirements of two or more political entities in order to obtain the benefits of volume purchases and/or reduction in administrative expenses.”¹

Cooperative purchasing requires individual purchasing units in multiple government environments to have a willingness to look beyond individual preferences with regard to detailed specifications, preferred product brand names, etc.²  A variety of arrangements can be used whereby two or more units purchase from the same supplier using a single IFB/RFP as the basis of the contract documents or cooperative pricing agreements.³  Some possible objectives of cooperative purchasing are:

• Lower prices from competition for larger volumes.                   
• Reduced administrative costs—one organization handles bidding process.
• Combined expertise of many purchasing professionals.                         
• More favorable terms and conditions (e.g.,possible lower freight costs)