NASHVILLE, Tenn., June 16, 2021 – HealthTrust, a leading Group Purchasing Organization (GPO) and supply chain performance company for healthcare, along with its commercial GPO counterpart, CoreTrust, announced today the acquisition of EasiBuy, a full-service reverse-auction technology company specializing in cooperative sourcing for government agencies. Aided by HealthTrust’s procurement expertise, analytics and scale, EasiBuy will launch a Lead Agency Procurement Organization (LAPO) model aimed at erasing the double-digit differentials that government agencies frequently pay versus private sector GPO contracts, through negotiation of multi-jurisdictional public sector cooperative agreements.
Since 2012, EasiBuy (formerly Electronic Auction Services, Inc.), headquartered in Kent, Ohio, has been a trusted partner of state and local governments in providing managed procurement services utilizing its proprietary technology. The LAPO bid development process integrates client requirements including vendor credentialing with EasiBuy’s e-procurement technology to ensure a competitive, compliant and fully transparent experience for buyers and sellers. Contract provisions allow other public entities to “piggyback” off Lead Agency agreements and achieve economies of scale they would not receive by contracting on their own.
“Just as we extended our healthcare model to the commercial market through CoreTrust, this transaction will enable us to drive value to the public sector,” said Ed Jones, HealthTrust president and CEO. “Typically, public sector purchasing groups tend to have vendor-centric contracts, reflecting a price premium to what we have historically achieved in the private sector. We aim to remedy that and have coined the LAPO term to distinguish EasiBuy’s approach and underscore the importance of an agency-centric, fully transparent and compliant, cooperative model.”
“Less than one percent of government agencies utilize reverse auctions,” stated Ben Koberna, co-founder of EasiBuy. “Most rely on public bids which effectively narrows the vendor pool and restricts competition. As a HealthTrust company, EASiBuy will bring unparalleled scale, robust analytics and benchmarking, and a buyer-centric process that is proven to extract significant value for public agencies.”
Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.
