Government Contracts

What is NCPA?

NCPA (National Cooperative Purchasing Alliance) is a leading national government purchasing cooperative working to reduce the cost of goods and services by leveraging the purchasing power of public agencies in all 50 states. NCPA utilizes state of the art procurement resources and solutions that result in cooperative purchasing contracts that ensure all public agencies are receiving products and services of the highest quality at the lowest prices.

Who can use NCPA?

There are over 90,000 agencies nationwide from both the public and nonprofit sectors that are eligible to utilize the NCPA program. These include, but are not limited to the following agency types:

• School Districts (including K-12, Charter schools, and Private K-12)
• Higher Education (including Universities, Community Colleges, Private Colleges, and Technical / Vocational Schools)
• Cities
• Counties
• Local Government
• State Agencies
• Nonprofit Corporations
• Healthcare Organizations
• Church/Religious

How can customers take advantage?

NCPA works with a public agency, who as Lead Agency competitively solicits national master procurement contracts for use by all public agencies. These contracts are established using the following process:

• The Lead Agency issues a competitive solicitation for a product or service on behalf of NCPA and all public agencies.
• The solicitation is advertised nationally for a minimum of four (4) weeks. You can view our current solicitations on our website.
• The solicitation includes language that makes the contract accessible nationally to public agencies in states whose laws allow for intergovernmental contract use (sometimes called "piggybacking" or "adopting")
• Vendors respond to the solicitation with sealed responses that are recorded and publicly opened.
• The Lead Agency evaluates the responses and awards contracts.

Where can I find my state’s statutes regarding cooperative purchasing?

The NCPA offers an interactive map for your use. View your state’s statute.