When their regular c-store distributor went belly-up late last year, Miami University (Ohio) and Ohio University found a way not only to replace the service but to improve it by pooling the contract and sharing the savings generated by the increased volume.
The two schools, joined by the University of Akron, broadcast a collective RFP (request for [image-nocss] proposals) that was won by grocery distributor H.T. Hackney Co. of Knoxville, Tenn.
The three participants purchase many of the same products, giving them volume leverage, and they also work with Hackney to maximize rebates for suppliers. The contract began on July 1 and has been a success so far, Rich Neumann, director of residential dining at Ohio University, told the magazine.
"Our fill rates are up, and our costs are down," he said. "We anticipate a 4.5% annual savings and a total savings of $267,000 over the three-year life of the contract." Neumann said he is looking at a similar arrangement for the dining end of the operation as well.
Melanie Glassmire, procurement & supply manager at Ohio U., said the arrangement was a product both of circumstance and a willingness to look outside the box.
"We and Miami had been using the same provisioner for supplying our stores, and when they went out of business, we were both looking for a solution. So we asked ourselves, 'What if we did this together?' " she said. "We had been working with the procurement services of the Inter-University Council of Ohio [a voluntary association of the state's public universities] so we put a message out to the other members to see if anyone else wanted to join us. Well, most of the other schools had contracts they couldn't break, except for [the University of] Akron. So it ended up as the three of us."
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