Cooperative Purchasing Agreement

A cooperative purchasing agreement is an arrangement through which multiple government entities, states, counties, cities, school districts, or universities, leverage the purchasing power of a "lead agency" that conducts a competitive procurement on behalf of all participants, allowing other entities to buy under the resulting contract without conducting their own solicitation.

What is a Cooperative Purchasing Agreement?

Cooperative purchasing agreements operate on a simple principle: if one government entity has already run a competitive procurement that satisfies applicable law, other eligible entities can use the resulting contract without duplicating the competitive process. This saves time, reduces administrative burden, and provides access to better pricing through aggregated volume.

Cooperative agreements take several forms. Formal cooperative purchasing organizations, such as NASPO ValuePoint, OMNIA Partners, Sourcewell, BuyBoard, and TIPS/TAPS, conduct national competitive solicitations on behalf of their member entities and make the resulting contracts available to members in any participating state. Lead agency cooperatives are more informal: one government entity (the lead) conducts a procurement and includes cooperative purchasing language allowing others to piggyback on the resulting award.

Most state procurement statutes include specific authority for cooperative purchasing, either within the state or with other governmental bodies. The Intergovernmental Cooperation Act provides additional federal statutory support for cooperative purchasing arrangements. For vendors, cooperative purchasing vehicles are a critical market access strategy: winning a single national cooperative contract can provide access to thousands of government purchasers across the country.

Why Cooperative Purchasing Agreements matter for government contractors

For SLED-focused vendors, cooperative purchasing contracts are among the most efficient market access vehicles available. A contract on NASPO ValuePoint, OMNIA Partners, or Sourcewell can generate orders from thousands of state and local government buyers without requiring the vendor to respond to individual competitive solicitations for each purchase.

Example

A cybersecurity software firm wins a position on a NASPO ValuePoint cooperative contract for cybersecurity products following a competitive solicitation conducted by the State of Utah as the lead agency. The contract is immediately accessible to purchasers in all 50 states through NASPO's cooperative purchasing authority. In the first year, 340 government entities in 32 states place orders totaling $6.8 million, generating revenue from state agencies, counties, cities, and school districts the company had never previously engaged.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is using a cooperative purchasing contract "piggybacking"?

Yes, "piggybacking" is the informal term for purchasing under another entity's contract. The practice is legally authorized when the original solicitation and contract include cooperative purchasing language and the purchasing entity's applicable state law permits the arrangement.

Do cooperative purchases require any additional competitive process?

Most state laws allow use of cooperative contracts without any additional competitive process, since the lead agency's competitive solicitation satisfies the legal requirement. Some states require a simplified "price reasonableness" determination before using a cooperative contract, particularly for large purchases.

Which cooperative purchasing networks are the largest?

NASPO ValuePoint (operated by the National Association of State Procurement Officials) is the largest in the public sector, with member access across all 50 states. OMNIA Partners, Sourcewell, BuyBoard, TIPS/TAPS, HGACBuy, and E&I Cooperative Services also serve large membership bases across state and local government and education.

What cooperative purchasing language must be in the original contract?

To allow piggybacking, the original contract must include language explicitly authorizing other public agencies to purchase under the contract's terms. Without this language, other entities cannot legally use the contract, and vendors who accept orders from non-party entities risk contract violations. Always verify that cooperative purchasing language is present before marketing a contract as a cooperative vehicle.