The Greater Phoenix Purchasing Consortium of Schools is a consortium comprised currently of over fifty districts and charter schools throughout the Greater Phoenix area, that develops cooperative purchasing contracts on behalf of its members. Its main goal is to develop cooperative contracts for common, standardized products and services to the benefit of multiple districts that will save time and money in an effort to stretch budget dollars.
On June 20, 2007, GPPCS voted to combine its meetings and officers with the statewide purchasing consortium known as the Strategic Alliance for Volume Expenditures (SAVE). GPPCS is proud to partner with SAVE , however, both consortiums will retain their autonomy . The combination of meetings and officers is only to facilitate certain efficiencies for both groups. The Consortium also works closely with other purchasing cooperatives such as the State Procurement Office and Mohave Educational Services Cooperative, as well as the School Facilities Board, to help ensure their contracts meet the needs of school districts and charter schools.
The Consortium was established years ago and was originally known as the East Valley Purchasing Consortium (EVPC). In 1998, Washington Elementary School District led the way in requesting that the west valley school districts be allowed to join the Consortium to reap the benefits of what the Consortium had to offer. It was then that the EVPC became the GPPCS. In 2002, the membership was opened to charter schools. Full membership is granted to charter schools that are subject to the procurement rules as prescribed in A.A.C. R7-2-1001 et seq., the “School District Procurement Code.” Charter Schools exempt from the Code, while not full members, may participate in and use GPPCS contracts at the discretion of the Consortium as other public entities.
GPPCS and SAVE are both Purchasing Consortiums that are comprised from the Cooperative Purchase Agreements that each public member entity has signed in order to participate in the various cooperative contracts.