Why is there increasing pressure on institutions to come together to buy goods and services? Collaborative procurement is here today to support a growing need to enhance value and innovation in higher education in BC. However, reducing spend can offer both opportunities and challenges. Some of the challenges are magnified in a collaborative environment, as institutions shift from budget-driven to a value-driven way of thinking. The session will help demystify BCNET’s collaborative procurement approach to address how we can:

• Effectively ensure that principles of fair, open and transparent procurements provide access to collaborative opportunities
• Shift collaborative procurement from a reactive to a proactive process
• Re-orient BCNET procurement from solely being organized for contracts to being commodities that drive continuous process improvements