(Cary, N.C.) SciQuest, Inc., a leading provider of on-demand strategic procurement and supplier enablement solutions, and the National Joint Powers Alliance® (NJPA), today announced the availability of a competitively-solicited purchasing contract for SciQuest’s on-demand procurement automation solutions. The contract makes it possible for all members of NJPA, including government entities and non-profit organizations, to bypass what is often a prolonged request-for-proposal (RFP) process and quickly attain the technologies needed to make the most intelligent purchasing decisions.

“SciQuest has proven to be a valuable partner in our efforts to promote the importance of purchasing strategies that enable government entities to extend the value of existing resources,” said David Duhn, contract manager at NJPA. “SciQuest’s procurement automation technologies are proven to empower organizations to aggregate their buying power, stretch the value of every dollar, utilize the best contracts available and bring spending under management. Our competitively awarded contract allows NJPA members to quickly purchase SciQuest at a very competitive price.”

SciQuest enables government agencies and other public entities to consolidate their spending in one electronic system where the most competitive contracts and prices on goods and services are available with the click of a mouse. On-demand in nature, SciQuest provides users with a familiar online environment similar to that enjoyed by consumers at popular e-commerce sites – all in a system that eliminates time-consuming purchasing paperwork, automates approvals and provides leaders with unprecedented ability to manage spending, enforce compliance and ensure that public funds are used wisely.

NJPA is a government entity and member-owned service cooperative created by Minnesota statute and enabled by Joint Powers Law to provide competitively-solicited purchasing contracts in cooperation with the Municipal Contracting Law. Under most U.S. statutory requirements, NJPA contracts can be used in lieu of the time-consuming competitive bidding and RFP processes commonly associated with public-sector procurement.

As a result, members of NJPA, including state governments, counties, municipalities, colleges and universities, K-12 schools and non-profits of all sizes can attain the goods and services they need quickly and at a price point that reflects the cumulative buying power of more than 30,000 members. Participation is complimentary for all agencies and non-profit organizations that meet statutory requirements for membership. Use of NJPA contracts is also optional.

“Agencies today are under great pressure to contain costs and make the best purchasing decisions,” adds Duhn. “Unfortunately, traditional bidding and RFP efforts often take a year or more to complete and require staff resources that most public entities can’t spare. Making those purchases from NJPA contracts via an eprocurement system not only makes it possible to attain the same goods and services for exceptionally competitive rates, but also makes the process much easier, efficient and effective.”

The contract covers all of SciQuest’s procurement automation and supplier enablement solutions, as well as related services. Made available in five-year subscriptions, the on-demand software requires limited IT resources to deploy, particularly for agencies, municipalities and other organizations with limited resources.

“Most public entities today must follow an RFP process that is slow, ineffective and costly – hampering even the most well-intentioned efforts to transform procurement organizations into a powerful source of savings and efficiencies,” said Eric Zoetmulder, product marketing manager for the public sector at SciQuest. “With this agreement, it’s never been easier or more economical for NJPA members to quickly attain the industry’s leading eprocurement solution or to fully utilize the NJPA’s exceptionally competitive contracts organization wide.”

SciQuest provides a leading on-demand strategic procurement and supplier enablement solution that integrates customers with their suppliers to improve procurement of indirect goods and services. Our on-demand software enables organizations to realize the benefits of strategic procurement by identifying and establishing contracts with preferred suppliers, driving spend to those contracts and promoting process efficiencies through electronic transactions. Using our managed SciQuest Supplier Network, our customers do business with more than 30,000 unique suppliers and spend billions of dollars annually.

Our current target markets are higher education, life sciences, healthcare and state and local governments. We tailor our solution for each of the vertical markets we serve by offering industry-specific functionality, content and supplier connections. We serve more than 160 customers operating in 16 countries and offer our solution in five languages and 22 currencies.

SciQuest is a registered trademark of SciQuest, Inc. Other trademarks contained herein remain the property of their respective owners.

For more information about SciQuest, please visit www.sciQuest.com or call 877-710-0413 in the U.S. or +44 1794 341182 in Europe.