For over thirty years The Education Cooperative has been offering competitively bid savings opportunities on thousands of products through our locally-managed Cooperative Purchasing program. We work on behalf of the school systems to secure volume purchasing contracts that have benefits that are measurable and cost effective. Please contact Tricia McKim at pmckim@tec-coop.org 781-352-5700 for more information.
- Your School District’s Business Office decides to participate in the TEC Bid for Paper, Office, Classroom and Art Supplies (TEC POCAS Bid) for the upcoming school year.
- Your District fills out a Participation Form in early November and sends it back to TEC.
- TEC sends each participating District an excel spreadsheet in early December that the district sends to each school or cost center to enter their estimated usage for the upcoming school year. Your District collects and totals the complete District’s estimates and returns the completed excel spreadsheet to TEC in early January.
- TEC sends out participation invoices in January for $750 to districts that are non-TEC member districts. TEC member districts are Canton, Dedham, Dover, Dover-Sherborn, Framingham, Holliston, Hopkinton, Medfield, Medway, Millis, Natick, Needham, Norwood, Sherborn, Walpole, Wayland and Westwood.
- TEC posts the Invitation for Bid in January. The bids are received in February and reviewed in March. The awards are made in April.
- TEC sends out the Award Summary and Purchase Orders in April to school districts prior to the May 1st start date.
- School districts use these Purchase Orders to place orders directly with the awarded vendors. Payments are made directly from the School District to the awarded vendors.
- Districts are encouraged to send feedback to TEC to resolve issues. TEC incorporates feedback information into future bids.