"What we do for our school district customers is provide the same purchasing power as large metro school districts. That way, our small rural districts can get prices that work for their budgets."
- Kim Wolcott, CES Grants Manager
Cooperative Purchasing

Cooperative Purchasing
Simplify, Save, and Succeed
CES acts on your behalf as a cooperative, bringing the same economy of scale enjoyed by large organizations to smaller organizations. We serve school districts, nonprofit organizations, and municipalities.
Working with CES
By joining with CES for purchasing purposes, our clients have realized significant cost savings on all kinds of bids for supplies and services. We take care of the administrative work for the bidding process, saving you time and effort. And we ensure all bids are in accordance with MA Public Procurement laws.
Cooperative Purchasing Categories
Cooperative Purchasing categories have recently expanded, and now include:
- General Food
- Fresh Bread
- Milk
- Ice Cream
- Cafeteria Supplies and Paper Goods
- School & Art Supplies
- General Office Supplies
- Printing and Copying Services
- Printer, Copier, and Fax Supplies (toner, ink, etc.)
- Custodial Supplies
Process and Timeline
Cooperative Purchasing bids happen multiple times per year. Examples include early fall, when general office supplies and printing/copying services are bid; and late December, when custodial supplies and printer/copier/fax supplies are bid, etc.
CES saves you time by managing the process of identifying vendors and conducting bidding on the items or services targeted so that you can benefit from the lowest possible price at the right time.
There is a fee to use the food, paper goods, milk, bread, ice cream, and school/art supplies categories. This is based on school enrollment and membership in CES. There is no fee for clients to use the remaining bids, which are paid for by the vendors.
How to Order Off Bids
Please click below to learn more about ordering off of each bid.
- Art Supplies - AS01CES
- Copier Supplies - CO02CES
- Custodial Supplies - CS02CES
- General Office Supplies - OS01CES
- General School Supplies - SS01CES
- Printing and Copying Services - PC02CES
- Printer and Fax Supplies - PF02CES
Notifications
CES will notify all interested parties about upcoming bids via email. If you would like to receive notifications, please click here to be added to our mailing list.