The One Document Your Cooperative Purchases Might Be Missing

Cooperative purchasing is well-established, legally sound, and used by thousands of public agencies every day. The problem is when the reasoning behind the decision doesn't make it onto paper.

When an audit happens, or a governing board asks questions, or a federal grant review comes up, "I looked into it and it made sense" isn't going to hold up. What holds up is a file with documented authority, a cost comparison, a clear rationale, and a record of the due diligence you actually did.

The NCPP justification document gives you a structured way to capture all of that at the time of the decision, when the details are fresh, so you're not trying to reconstruct your reasoning from memory later. Because let's be real: you're not going to remember the specifics of a procurement decision from eighteen months ago.

How to Work Through the Document

Step 1: Establish Your Legal Authority

The form starts with the foundational question: under what authority is your agency permitted to use a cooperative contract? 

Cite whichever applies to your entity: 

• State statute — most states have an explicit cooperative procurement statute; look up your citation and record it 

• Joint Powers Authority — if applicable, cite the agreement 

• Internal procurement policy — the section or number in your own policy that authorizes cooperative use 

• Governing body resolution — resolution number and date if your board has formally authorized it 

• Federal compliance — if federal funds are involved, note whether 2 CFR Part 200 compliance has been verified 

You need at least one. And you need it documented. If you've relied on legal counsel's guidance here, note that in your file too.

Step 2: Document the Contract Details

This section establishes that the cooperative contract you used was actually competed. Record the lead agency, the cooperative organization, the solicitation number, how the contract was publicly advertised, the award date, and the contract term. 

For Master Agreements in the OMNIA Partners portfolio, all of this is available on our website. This isn't busywork, it's the evidence that a real competitive process happened before you ever placed an order.

Step 3: Run the Numbers

This is where the form earns its keep. The cost comparison section asks you to put actual figures next to each other: what you paid (or will pay) through the cooperative contract versus what an independent solicitation would have cost your agency.

Don't underestimate what a solicitation actually costs. The NCPP's own RFP Tracking Project found that non-complex procurements average about $1,682 in internal staff time alone — and complex procurements (anything involving installation, construction, or over $100K) average around $17,419. Add advertising costs, legal review time, evaluation time, and governing body approval cycles, and the number climbs fast.

The form also walks you through a timeline comparison. If speed was part of your reasoning — an urgent need, a budget-year deadline, a time-sensitive project — this is where you document that.

Step 4: Check Your Reasons

The form includes a checklist of reasons for choosing the cooperative approach. Check everything that genuinely applies:

These checkboxes carry more weight than what you might think. When someone asks why you went cooperative eighteen months from now, this list is often the clearest, fastest answer you can give.

Step 5: Make Sure Your File Is Complete

Before you close the file, the form walks you through a final documentation checklist. Every applicable item should be marked complete:

An incomplete procurement file is one of the most common, and most avoidable, audit findings. Don't close the file until the necessary boxes are checked.