Higher Education Purchasing

As the leading national government purchasing cooperative, U.S. Communities provides educators and school administrators with access to premium products and services at the best overall supplier government pricing.

We Make Higher Education Procurement Easier

U.S. Communities purchasing cooperative has a long history of working with purchasing departments; saving thousands of institutions nationwide time and money. U.S. Communities has two universities on its Advisory Board: Emory University and North Carolina State University. Moreover, U.S. Communities is the only cooperative purchasing program founded by the Association of School Business Officials International, the National Association of Counties, the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing, the National League of Cities and the United States Conference of Mayors.

All U.S. Communities contracts are competitively solicited by a lead public agency in accordance with its public purchasing rules and regulations. Each solicitation contains language allowing institutes of higher education to piggyback on the contracts. Higher education purchasing officials may utilize U.S. Communities’ contracts and save significant time and advertising costs, while also generating bid competitive pricing. Furthermore, the prices your institution will receive through U.S. Communities are the lowest that will be offered by participating suppliers to government entities nationwide.

Although each agency may have different procedures to follow for university contract procurement, applying these competitive principles satisfies the competitive solicitation requirements of most agencies. Each state has its own laws addressing intergovernmental purchasing by local government agencies. Please click here to view the Intergovernmental Purchasing Statutes by state

Advantages of utilizing U.S. Communities Higher Education Cooperative Purchasing:

• Free membership – No costs, fees or obligations to buy.
• Lower prices – The best overall supplier government pricing on thousands of the best brands in a wide variety of categories, services and solutions
• Expert assistance – We help navigate all contract issues with suppliers, from service requests to price guarantees.
• No minimum purchasing requirements – Buy as little or as much as you need.

Get started with U.S. Communities Today!

Register to participate now – it’s quick, easy and completely free – and learn how to purchase under any of our competitively solicited contracts.