Taking the Pulse of Procurement Professionals

Taking the Pulse of Procurement Professionals

The State of Supplier Diversity in Higher Education

Northeastern University | College of Professional Studies

Carl Zangerl | Ali Raisi | Youngbok Ryu | Francesca Grippa

For procurement professionals in higher education, balancing multiple priorities, often with limited resources, has always been challenging. Add to the mix the goal of promoting supplier diversity! While the institutional commitment to increasing the pool of suppliers is high, the results have been underwhelming. Why is this so?

Our previous research reports explored the aspirations and frustrations of diverse small enterprises interested in doing business with colleges and universities. We learned that the higher education procurement process often seems to them like an impenetrable black box, which discourages suppliers, particularly disadvantaged vendors, from entering the market. One small business owner summed up his experience this way: “It’s hard even to know where to start in terms of relationship building and understanding what contracting opportunities might be available.” 

But what about the other side of the buying equation? What are the perceptions of the professionals responsible for strategic sourcing and making purchasing decisions? It was time to gauge the sentiments of procurement experts from diverse institutions nationwide. By probing their views and experiences through a large survey and focus groups, we aimed to
improve our understanding of the institutional purchasing landscape. Is there a gap between the commitment to supplier diversity and the programs required to make it happen? What practical steps can be taken to make significant progress? How can lifelong learning contribute to the promotion of supplier diversity? And what can diverse suppliers do to gain more access to the higher education marketplace?

The survey was completed by 101 procurement professionals representing a wide range of institutions, private and public, large and small, research intensive and teaching-oriented. While the respondents were primarily concentrated in New England, the sample was nationwide and included senior managers and more junior buyers. For details about the respondent profile, see the section on research methodology. We followed up the survey with three focus group sessions to drill deeper into the issues that emerged from the survey. The focus groups also included procurement professionals from a range of institutions - public and private universities, large universities, and small colleges - carefully chosen to reflect the diversity within higher education.

What we learned from the survey and the focus groups can be summarized around five themes:

Commitment vs Implementation: Many respondents voted a disparity between the stated commitments to supplier diversity and the actual practices within institutions.
 
Obstacles: The survey responses and focus group discussions identified a range of obstacles to increased supplier diversity, including resource limitations, identifying qualified diverse suppliers, complex procurement processes, and existing vendor relationships.

Strategic Initiatives: Some institutions are making significant progress in increasing the pool of diverse suppliers by implementing various strategic and tactical approaches.

Training Opportunities: There are significant awareness and training gaps among internal stakeholders, from procurement staff to P-Card holders, on engaging with diverse suppliers more effectively.

Capacity Building: The experience of working with diverse suppliers has been generally very positive, with suggestions on how they can compete for business more effectively.

Supplier diversity in higher education shows overall progress alongside significant challenges. This report explores these obstacles, highlights best practices identified by respondents, and proposes practical strategies to advance supplier diversity within the sector.