Category Archives: ESUCC

It’s All About the Money . . . Or Is It?

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by Priscilla Quintana, ESUCC Business Manager

What’s your budget?

Our World’s current situation has many schools questioning the future, implementing spending freezes, and trying to predict the financial future. This is not the first time that school budgets have been in danger. It seems like we are always trying to provide our kids with quality education while pinching pennies.

This concerns me, not just as an employee of ESUCC, but also as a parent. I want my kids to have the best education that we can possibly provide. Whether kids are learning in the classroom or learning remotely from home, supplies and equipment are essential. A decrease in funding, especially with these uncertain times, can make it very difficult for schools to obtain needed products and supplies.

What are your needs?

ESUCC has many resources available to support schools, educators and students. Continually working with ESUs, NDE, vendors, and other State agencies, we can provide cost saving solutions to meet all of your needs. By working together and sharing resources we all benefit, saving time and money.  ESUCC works to prepare strategic plans that assure cost-efficient and equitable delivery of services across the state, administration of statewide initiatives and provision of statewide services, and coordination of distance education.

Our Cooperative bid processes, leveraging bulk buying power, provide you with nationally and locally awarded contracts that give you low cost quality products and services. I have been doing this job for over 25 years and I have seen the cost savings and benefits of cooperative purchasing. It is amazing!  Schools can save up to 35% on classroom supplies & software, technology products, custodial supplies, food, building/roofing needs and so much more!

Did you know?
ESUCC Cooperative Purchasing saved Nebraska schools just over $6,000,000 last year!

Will things ever get back to normal?

Some days it is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. And most likely, we will never be the “same”. The technology has always been there, we have now been forced to use it on a daily basis to work, teach, communicate, and learn. And unfortunately, we will most likely always face financial concerns and budget issues. But thanks to the hardworking professionals, exceptional teachers, and the many educational support agencies working together in Nebraska, we will continue to achieve great results!

If money was not an issue, what would your world look like? What do you need help with?  ESUCC is always looking for new ways to serve Nebraska schools. 

If there is anything you need, please contact us!

Omaha office:  402-597-4843 or Ainsworth office:  402-387-1245

ESUCC Coop Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ESUCC.Coop

ESUCC Cooperative Purchasing Interlocal Agreements

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Recently, there have been an increasing number of discussions in Nebraska regarding interlocal agreements amongst various organizations and government-funded institutions. To bring clarity to this conversation, the ESU Coordinating Council is sharing the following message to inform Nebraskans on (1) what an interlocal agreement entails and (2) how the ESUCC’s Cooperative Purchasing efforts leverage interlocal agreements to bring millions of dollars in cost-savings benefits to our municipalities and the education community statewide.

What is an interlocal agreement?

An interlocal agreement is a legal agreement between two or more public agencies, including a county, city, village, an agency of the state government, ESUs, or school districts, to cooperate on specific projects or services.

In other words, there are times when a project of service requires coordination and cooperation between multiple jurisdictions, and in those instances, it can make sense to combine resources and expertise to achieve common goals. It’s people working collectively to accomplish goals that they would not be able to achieve as efficiently and/or as cost-effectively without working together.

How does it work?

There are some purchases that are essential expenses for virtually every school district. Things like paper and cleaning supplies might be among the first things that come to mind. But if you consider things like classroom furniture, playground equipment, one-to-one technology – both hardware and software, scoreboards for gyms and fields – the list quickly becomes extensive!

This is where the ESUCC’s Cooperative Purchasing through interlocal agreements helps save districts time and money. Coop Purchasing solicits and negotiates with various vendors on the collective behalf of member districts/entities. As such, districts do not have to spend time with the bidding/negotiating process and can instead focus their efforts on their students, teachers, and learning. Furthermore, by streamlining the collective buying power through a single contract, Nebraska schools can essentially buy in bulk and volume, which lowers the cost of each and every one of these essential items.

What is the extent of these savings?

In the 2021-2022 school year alone, the ESUCC saved Nebraska schools $6.7 million dollars through cooperative purchasing. And over the past five school years, the total is $28.8 million. In this way, interlocal agreements empower school districts across Nebraska to work with the ESUCC to save time, personnel, and monetary resources, together.

For more information about the ESUCC’s Cooperative Purchasing program, go to our page: Cooperative Purchasing – ESU CC or contact Craig Peterson at: craig.peterson@esucc.org

ESUCC Receives Awards at the AEPA Spring Meeting 2023

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ESUCC Cooperative Purchasing staff with MVP Awards 2023

The ESUCC Cooperative Purchasing staff recently returned from the Association of Educational Purchasing Agencies (AEPA) spring meeting in Omaha where 29 state members converged along with 44 vendor partners to strategize and discuss procurement in their states for the upcoming year. The spring meeting is also a time for AEPA to recognize members and vendors for Relationship Excellence, Quality and Innovation and Sales Performance. ESUCC was the winner of two of these awards – Relationship Excellence, Quality and Innovation and also earned an honorable mention for Sales Performance with a 44% increase in sales.

Relationship Excellence Award

The Relationship Excellence award recognizes excellence in stakeholder engagement strategies that proactively support opportunities for co-discovery, intimacy, trust-building, collaboration, brainstorming, solution development, and other activities that support the mission of AEPA. ESUCC was nominated for this award by Preston Frazier with Pitsco Education. This award recognizes the work of ESUCC Cooperative Purchasing but also highlights the statewide collaborative work of the ESUs in providing support and assistance to all of Nebraska schools in this statewide initiative.

“In 2022, there was a monumental opportunity that presented itself in which Pitsco and ESUCC worked together to provide coding and robotics kits to more than 300 schools and districts as part of a statewide initiative in Nebraska utilizing GEER funding. We worked together to provide support and assistance to each school and district through collaborative webinars, a recorded podcast, a customized miniature catalog to be shared inside Nebraska, and a valuable resource page specific to this initiative. We also had multiple meetings and visits to make sure this initiative was successful for students and teachers throughout Nebraska. ESUCC has been a pleasure to work with, and they are the picture-perfect partner!” 

Preston Frazier, Pitsco Education
ESUCC Awarded Relationship Excellence
Preston Fraizer, Priscilla Quintana, Colleen Lentz, Craig Peterson
GEER Resource Page
Nebraska GEER Resources Page

Quality and Innovation Award

The Quality and Innovation award recognizes outstanding projects, campaigns, and innovations in the fields of digital media and communications. ESUCC was nominated for this award by Michelle Selak, Michigan. The award was presented to Craig Peterson, ESUCC Cooperative Purchasing Director, for the work that he and his team do in supporting AEPA. The quality and innovation Nebraska brings to AEPA is above and beyond.

“Nebraska has been a strong force in supporting AEPA in many categories. Although Michigan supports the front end of the website, Nebraska supports the website behind the scenes. Craig, as website chair, has been hands-on behind the scenes working with the AEPA website developer to make sure the website is supported, running, and functioning to its full capacity. Craig continually works to help develop, maintain, and continue to grow the CRM reporting system. This work includes collaborating with the Reporting Committee to support the process within the website. Craig also collaborates with the Marketing committee to better serve AEPA website marketing strategies. I have learned so much from Craig and I’m thankful for him and his knowledge.  Craig also serves on four solicitation committees including committee chairperson for one of them.” 

Michelle Selak, Michigan
Craig Peterson, Michelle Selak
AEPA Website
ESUCC Cooperative Purchasing

What is AEPA?

The Association of Educational Purchasing Agencies (AEPA) is a multi-state non-profit organization made up of Educational Service Agencies/political subdivisions organized through a Memorandum of Understanding between all participating states. It is a true “cooperative” that serves to leverage purchasing power for all member schools and agencies with the ability to purchase at equal buying levels regardless of size.

AEPA Advantages

  • AEPA streamline the bidding and purchasing process through a single, locally and nationally recognized purchasing solicitation.
  • AEPA’s collaborative purchasing expertise ensures that contracts are legal, safe and bid law compliant.
  • Contracts are bid competitively and tailored to meet each member state’s specific legal requirements and is facilitated by the state’s cooperative member agency.
  • AEPA contracts are designed to protect buyers and are guaranteed to save members time and money.  
  • Combining the needs of 25 million students nationwide provides an incentive to vendors to offer AEPA their best price and the highest quality products.

ESUCC Cooperative Purchasing

As a member of AEPA, ESUCC Cooperative Purchasing represents 17 Educational Service Units statewide which in turn service Nebraska school districts with over 300,000 students. We are authorized to coordinate purchases for public school districts, nonpublic school systems, other ESUs, and other public agencies, including any county, city, village, school district, or agency of the state government, any drainage district, sanitary and improvement district, or other municipal corporation or political subdivision of the State of Nebraska. For more information, contact Craig Peterson, or visit our website – ESUCC Cooperative Purchasing

Craig Peterson

Craig Peterson

Cooperative Purchasing

Coop Purchasing Director
Holdrege Office
412 West 14th Ave
Holdrege, NE 68949
308-995-0665
Email

The Pitsco+ESUCC GEER-Funded Robotics Purchase and Support Site

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The GEER (Govenor’s Emergency Education Relief) funded robotics purchases sent over a million dollars’ worth of robotics devices into Nebraska schools. In a collaborative effort to support this monumental purchase, Pitsco Education and the ESUCC came together to develop a support site where educators and students can access video tutorials, online resources, and downloadable documents to ensure the successful implementation of these devices into student learning experiences. We even included a webinar series with implementation ideas featuring representation from Pitsco and our ESU network statewide.

For more on this initiative and access to resources, go to our page – Nebraska ESUCC Geer Resources.