The Coalition for College Cost Savings (CCCS) and Unimarket Announce a New eProcurement Solution Now Available for All 598 Member Colleges and Universities

Annapolis, MD, April 21, 2010 --(PR.com)-- Today, CCCS, a non-profit collaborative of twenty-four (24) higher education member organizations located in 22 states nationally, and Unimarket, the global leader in collaborative eProcurement, jointly announce a new eProcurement portal solution for the 598 private colleges and universities that make up the current CCCS membership. With the focus of CCCS being reduced costs and increased process controls for its member schools, the availability of an affordable internet portal through Unimarket to access the sites of its multiple contract suppliers for internet commerce is invaluable. This new relationship with Unimarket and the capability it provides will enable CCCS member organizations, working across geographical boundaries, to better serve the students, faculty, and communities of their member institutions and to enrich all of private higher education nationally.

By design and philosophy, CCCS does not compete with other group purchasing organizations or consortiums, but rather attempts to integrate potential supplier solutions to meet the needs of its member organizations and their campuses. Whether by partnering with others who have established solutions or contracting for a product unique to the needs of its members, the role of CCCS is to provide resources and solutions for the benefit of a marketplace that is often underserved, private higher education. One of the CCCS members, the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania (AICUP) was a pioneer in this portal program, offering the Unimarket option to its 87 member schools for its contract programs and Provista contracts through CCCS.

“With the growing size of the CCCS family of schools and the geography we now cover as a collaborative entity, we needed an internet access tool flexible to meet the needs of member institutions of various sizes and complexities, but also one that could scale to our continuing growth” said David Jones, Executive Director of CCCS. “Unimarket has provided our campuses with a gateway for greater contract usage, cost savings and market penetration for our supplier partners”.

Unimarket addresses the unique needs of fragmented, decentralized public sector organizations by channeling their spending power and making it easy for end-user buyers to easily purchase the right products and services from the right contracts at the right time. This is achieved through a simple portal, or ‘window into eligible contracts’ with many CCCS suppliers accessible in one place, from one login, for members. Exclusive supplier maintained contracts offered to members are available online, whether in hosted catalogs or punchouts to their respective eCommerce solutions. The solution is delivered through Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and 100% hosted (no hardware/software to be installed) with shopping carts, check-out and direct integration to suppliers’ supply chains where applicable.

By streamlining procure-to-pay business processes, efficiency and compliance become a reality. College and University financial professionals can then gain real-time, consistent visibility of spend that they need to negotiate preferred contracts, achieve volume discounts and of course, generate savings.

"Unimarket is very pleased to be working with David, his staff and the CCCS membership," said Scott Blackwood, Unimarket CEO. "This is a compelling movement that drives tangible cost savings for their members’ institutions by collaborating with like-minded partners. We are proud to be one of these partners and that our technology will be utilized to accelerate these savings with easier and faster access to the compelling CCCS contracts."

About CCCS: The Coalition for College Cost Savings, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, was formally established in 2006 on the concept that collaboration among independent colleges and universities could yield greater strength in the purchasing marketplace, benefiting its member institutions, regardless of size, mission or location, with the lowest prices for purchased commodities and the highest value in performed services. CCCS serves as a central point of contact for the creation of these supplier relationships, program implementation planning and execution and a repository of best practice information on process efficiency. CCCS will provide, or cause to be provided, programs, materials and resources necessary to support the business operations needs of its member organizations and their member institutions. Please visit www.thecoalition.us for more information.

About Unimarket: Located in Annapolis, MD, Auckland, NZ and Melbourne, AU, Unimarket is the global leader of collaborative eProcurement networking, providing software on demand to streamline procure-to-pay operations and achieve cost savings within and across organizations. Customers tailor a user-friendly buying portal for decentralized purchasing that drives compliance to selected suppliers from the Global Supplier Network. Quote requests, supplier maintained catalogs and punch-outs are routinely accessed to locate and buy the most cost-effective goods and services – all in sync with controls within respective customer finance/ERP systems. A distinctive feature of the Unimarket solution is the ability for customers to collaborate on their common purchases, thereby increasing economies of scale and driving down unit costs. Please visit www.unimarket.com for more information.

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