March 6, 2015

Members of the Green Mountain Higher Education Consortium (GMHEC)—Champlain College, Middlebury College, and Saint Michael’s College—are continuing efforts to obtain institutional cost savings while also adding benefits.

Recently, GMHEC requested proposals for office supplies. We received five proposals, and after carefully reviewing and vetting them, we selected two finalist: W.B. Mason and Office Depot (formally OfficeMax).  We then requested W.B. Mason to give a presentation, since using this company would be a change for two of the institutions.  We invited colleagues from the academic, purchasing and sustainability offices of the three institutions to attend the presentation, which included information on value-added initiatives, ease of website use, delivery options and customer service. It also allowed participants to ask questions related to product ordering, reporting, and best practices.

After witnessing the successful presentation and going over of the overall contract terms, members of GMHEC recommended selecting W.B. Mason for all three institutions.  W. B. Mason provides the lowest market-basket pricing on the products we order and offers a paid internship to one student for each school per year. We also considered the overall service and ease of website use.

Champlain College and Middlebury College have now implemented the W.B. Mason contract, as has the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, Middlebury in D.C., and the Language School offices at Mills College.  Saint Michael’s College’s account has been updated to the new pricing.

To sustain the low prices we negotiated, we will now place all office-supply orders through W.B. Mason only. The accounts with OfficeMax, Office Depot, Staples, and Palace Art have been closed.  And we ask that you don’t use other vendors, such as Amazon, Costco, or Walmart.

Anyone who needs to order office supplies or paper but does not yet have an account: please contact Fran Estes at Champlain College, Matt Curran at Middlebury College and Janet Post at Saint Michael’s College.