Procurement Consortium

Big Ten Academic Alliance Procurement Consortium: Transforming University Procurement

The Big Ten Academic Alliance Procurement Consortium revolutionizes university purchasing by leveraging the collective strength of its member institutions. This collaboration drives cost savings, fosters innovation, and promotes inclusivity across campuses.

Key Initiatives:

• Standardized Spend Analytics: Ensuring consistent data for maximizing cost-saving opportunities.
• Best Practices Sharing: Promoting effective procurement strategies.
• Professional Procurement Education Program: Developing professional development for procurement staff across institutions.

Successes:

• $120 million in collaborative agreements.
• Top-tier contracts for essential services like scientific supplies, executive search firms, and rental cars.

Core Values:

Inclusivity, integrity, transformative thinking, respect, collaboration, and fairness guide the consortium’s operations, ensuring ethical and inclusive procurement practices.

Leadership Insight:

Tally Thrasher, Chief Procurement Officer at the University of Michigan, emphasizes the power of collaboration: “Each Procurement leader represents a campus with unique challenges and opportunities, yet we have more in common than our differences. It is a privilege to be among exceptional professionals focused on adding value to our universities.”

Impactful Initiatives:

• Shared strategic contracting.
• Procurement Benefit Initiative.
• Business diversity collaboration.
• Continuous professional development.

The Big Ten Academic Alliance Procurement Consortium exemplifies the power of collective action, setting a new standard for procurement excellence by aligning strategies across world-class universities.