Procurement teams are juggling more than ever: increased scope, tighter timelines, leaner resources, and greater pressure to deliver business value beyond just savings.
Scaling strategically doesn’t always require hiring more people or overhauling your operations. Sometimes, the right external partnership is the fastest, most efficient way forward.
That’s where Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs) can make a meaningful difference.
The guide offers frameworks, selection criteria, and real-world context for making the right group purchasing decision for your team.
Below is a short excerpt from the full guide, including five of the most important signs that indicate your procurement team should start partnering with a GPO.
Indirect Spend Is Slipping Through the Cracks
Most procurement teams have a well-defined approach to managing strategic, high-value direct spend. But indirect and tail spend categories (like office supplies, shipping, janitorial services, or software subscriptions) often go un- or under-managed. When left unchecked, these categories become fragmented, introduce risk, and quietly chip away at cost savings and compliance levels.
GPOs specialize in these frequently neglected areas. With pre-negotiated contracts and vetted suppliers, a GPO can quickly bring visibility, structure, and savings to categories that would otherwise fly under the radar.
If your indirect spend categories don’t have dedicated coverage, or if stakeholders are choosing suppliers based on convenience rather than contract terms, a GPO can help centralize and streamline these purchases.
You’re at Capacity (or Beyond)
Although it doesn’t always feel like it, procurement bandwidth is finite. There’s only so much your team can take on without sacrificing quality or agility. Many organizations reach a point where strategic sourcing is running well, but expanding spend oversight is impossible without more people or automation.
That’s a strong signal it may be time to look at a GPO.
Rather than stretching your team too thin or forcing trade-offs, GPOs help extend your influence across more spend areas. They give you access to ready-to-activate contracts, saving time on RFPs, supplier negotiations, and onboarding. You retain control, but gain breathing room to focus on strategic priorities.
A GPO isn’t a replacement for procurement. It’s an intelligent way to scale without compromise.
You’re Under Pressure to Prove Results
Cost savings alone are no longer enough. Procurement leaders are expected to show results across efficiency, compliance, resilience, and even supplier diversity. And they often need to show those results fast.
GPOs can help procurement deliver measurable impact more quickly. Their supplier relationships are already established. Their pricing has already been benchmarked. And their contracts can often be activated within weeks.
Many GPOs also provide tools that make it easier to track performance and report on value, both in hard-dollar savings and soft-dollar efficiency gains. If your leadership team is looking for faster time to value, a GPO could be your most immediate lever.
Stakeholder Spend Is Out of Sync
Even with strong policies in place, stakeholder-driven spend can spiral, especially when purchasing is decentralized or category expertise is limited. You might see overlapping suppliers, off-contract purchases, or different departments negotiating their own rates for the same services.
This not only undermines negotiated savings but makes it harder to maintain supplier consistency or enforce compliance.
By partnering with a GPO, procurement can offer stakeholders a structured, pre-approved path that still feels easy and flexible. Procurement gets what they want, i.e. visibility and control, while users gain access to trusted suppliers and competitive pricing without jumping through extra hoops.
Your Strategy Is Shifting, and You Need Flexible Support
Maybe your team is entering a growth phase. Maybe you’re restructuring your tech stack. Or maybe you’re simply being asked to take on more strategic cross-functional initiatives. In any case, it’s important that your procurement model can flex with the business.
The best GPOs are designed to deliver this kind of adaptability. They offer modular support: use only the contracts you need, activate quickly, and scale as your priorities evolve. They can even provide advisory services to help you assess which categories or suppliers are most aligned with your goals.
GPOs work especially well when integrated as part of a hybrid sourcing model, combining internal sourcing for core categories with group purchasing support for high-effort, low-impact areas.
Final Thought: Know the Signs, Make the Right Move
Bringing in a GPO is a signal that your team is thinking strategically about how to scale procurement’s influence and impact across the organization.
When chosen thoughtfully and aligned to your needs, a GPO can help you unlock savings, improve operational efficiency, and spend more time on what really matters: delivering long-term, real-world value to the business.
