A recent Spend Matters Perspective Research report, GPOs and Buying Consortiums Must Be on the Radar for 2011-2012 makes a compelling case for more procurement organizations to consider the benefits of leveraging the aggregated purchasing power and efficiencies these models afford. While the private sector is often the "first mover" in adopting innovative procurement models or new technologies, the use of buying consortiums or cooperatives has been an established business practice for most public sector agencies for some time. Equal Level has partnered with U.S. Communities, the leading national government purchasing cooperative with over 46,000 participating agencies, to launch an on-line Marketplace where these agencies can shop across multiple U.S. Communities' cooperative contracts, easily compare products and pricing, and make efficient and transparent "best value" purchase decisions, saving time and money for their agency, and for US taxpayers.

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