As an HVAC contractor, you want a bigger pipeline but without the admin headache of chasing RFPs and jumping through procurement hoops.

Good news: you don’t have to sit out the public sector. Thanks to cooperative contracts, you can tap into city, county, school district, and university projects without starting from scratch every time.

That means fewer RFPs, faster approvals, and more predictable work.

Why Cooperative Contracts Work for HVAC Contractors

The RFP process can slow things down. Even if you win, it’s often after weeks or months of back-and-forth. Cooperative contracts give you a faster, more efficient path.

Here’s how they work: a cooperative contract is a competitively bid agreement awarded to one public agency that other agencies can legally “piggyback” on. Once you’ve secured one of these contracts, dozens of schools, cities, or universities can hire you under the same terms without redoing the entire bid process.

That means less time writing proposals and more time growing your business. It also creates access to a stable base of pre-vetted customers and recurring opportunities.

“These programs open doors to a stable customer base, streamline the bidding process, and enhance market visibility,” says Rachel Waliczek of Greenheck. ““This structured, pre-qualified approach…allows our HVAC partners to spend less time on admin and more time solving problems and building customer relationships.”

It’s especially powerful for service-oriented contractors, who can use cooperative contracts as a path to long-term maintenance deals with schools, municipalities, and other public institutions. That’s recurring revenue you can count on.

Andrew Jung, cofounder of Pavilion (a discovery platform for 90,000+ cooperative contracts), sums it up simply:

“Cooperative purchasing is a best practice (not a loophole) that enables public agencies to use contracts that have already been awarded to other agencies to get their procurement done compliantly, fairly, and quickly.”

In other words, it’s a win for them and a win for you.

Two Paths to Cooperative Work

There are two main ways you can access public-sector projects through cooperative contracts:

1. Win a contract directly with a public agency that includes “cooperative” or “piggyback” language.

• This is the “one-and-done” RFP. You compete once, and if the awarded contract includes cooperative language, other agencies can use it later.
• Important: not all contracts include this language. When bidding, look for it or ask if it’s included. It’s the key that turns one project into dozens.

2. Get awarded a contract through a purchasing cooperative (like OMNIA Partners or Sourcewell).

• These co-ops run a competitive process on behalf of their member agencies. If you win, the co-op promotes your contract to thousands of public-sector buyers.
• This can feel like having a national salesforce working to get your contract in front of schools, municipalities, and universities.

Either way, the benefit is the same: you don’t start from zero every time a public buyer needs HVAC services.

What Does It Cost?

Here’s the part contractors always ask: what’s it going to cost me?

• Joining a co-op is usually free.
• If your contract is used, the co-op typically charges an administrative fee, which is generally a percentage of the sales.
• That fee only applies when you make a sale, and many contractors build it into their pricing so they don’t feel it in their bottom lines.

So if you do $100,000 of HVAC work through a Sourcewell-awarded contract with a 3% admin fee, you’d pay $3,000. No sales = no cost.

For contracts you win directly that include cooperative language, you don’t pay a co-op fee, though you may want to list your contract on discovery platforms like Pavilion so other agencies can find it.

Respond Faster When It Matters Most

If you've ever dealt with a broken HVAC system in a school or public facility, you know speed is everything. Waiting on RFPs isn’t always an option.

That’s why contractors who hold cooperative contracts have a huge advantage in emergency repair scenarios.

“Many times, HVAC purchases are made on an emergency basis, when existing equipment fails,” says Tammy Rimes, Executive Director of the National Cooperative Procurement Partners. “A ready-to-use contract makes those repairs and replacements more efficient and timely.”

If you want to be the contractor that gets the call first, cooperative contracts can put you at the top of the list.

How to Get Started

If you already hold a publicly awarded contract, even just one, you may be eligible to list it as a cooperative contract and expand your reach dramatically.

Here’s what the experts recommend:

• Check for cooperative/piggyback language in contracts you already hold.
• Register with leading purchasing co-ops like OMNIA Partners and Sourcewell.
• List your contract on discovery platforms like Pavilion so agencies can find it.
• Assign a dedicated internal lead to manage compliance, reporting, and relationships.

Bottom Line: These Contracts Work

You don’t have to sit out the public sector or waste weeks chasing RFPs. Cooperative contracts offer a real, scalable path to public work without the red tape.

“Cooperative purchasing agreements are a valuable strategic tool, and a smart addition to any commercial contractor’s business development strategy,” Waliczek says.

So if you’re ready to work smarter, not harder, and grow your public-sector pipeline, it’s time to get in the game.