e-Procurement For Small Businesses and Non-Profit Organizations

Small businesses and non-profit organizations sometimes lack the procurement skills needed to support projections. As B2B e-commerce becomes more routine, businesses often loose sight of opportunities to work together.

Jerry Clark, president of BeeHive Consortium Group, says the group mission is to capture a large pool of small spend and leverage the sum to reduce pricing. He estimates that business closings can be reduced and project estimates reached through consortium activity.

Mr. Clark says a major disadvantage for small businesses is working alone to achieve discount pricing. The BeeHive Consortium Group was founded to allow businesses to merge spend and to benefit from negotiated rates.

Thus far 10 suppliers have been selected to provide routine goods and services. Most of the suppliers are household names and in some cases offer the BCG access to savings that only large corporations have access to.

Small businesses must qualify to join. The different sub-categories of small" includes women-owned small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, hubzone small business, small disadvantaged business and small business.

Mr. Clark serves as chief negotiator with each potential vendor. He is a Certified Purchasing Manager with additional experience as a Small Business Liaison Officer for a fortune 500 company.