Joint Purchasing Initiative The Colleges of the Fenway consortium has two primary roles: to enhance student services and to save money through joint purchasing and mutual contracts. The COF promotes this collaboration between colleges in order to improve efficiency, decrease costs, and upgrade services. A sample of our joint purchasing includes, but is not limited to:
- Blackboard Ally
- Casella
- Colleges of the Fenway Area Network (COFAN) Internet Connection
- Emergency Notification System (RAVE)
- Employee Assistance Program (All One Health)
- Employee Recruitment
- Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Membership
- IT Services (Markely Group)
- Laundry Services (Automatic Laundry)
- LTD Life Insurance
- Property and Liability Insurance (Fred C. Church)
- Retirement Investment Advising (FIA)
- Snack/Soda Vending Services (Prestige Vending)
- Streaming Entertainment Services (Xfinity On Campus)
- Temporary Services (PSG)
- The Fenway Card (Transact/ Blackboard)
Please contact Allison O’Connor, Director, Business Collaborative Services, at aoconnor@colleges-fenway.org, with suggestions for a joint contract with the Colleges of the Fenway.
COFAN
In 2005, the Colleges of the Fenway member colleges decided that rather than taking on the task of finding an individual internet solution, they would come together to build one infrastructure to support the Internet needs across all five colleges. With a substantial grant from Fidelity, who supports collaborative initiatives, the colleges drew plans and began construction of the Colleges of the Fenway Area Network (COFAN).
Since 2005, COFAN has supported the growing internet and capacity needs of the colleges. Today it works with the same stability, redundancy and dynamic fail-over capabilities that it was designed for while supporting more than 16,000 students who attend the member institutions. Each campus continues their support of this valuable resource and participates collectively in supporting, testing and implementation. The vision that the colleges had for a shared internet solution continues to serve as the foundation for this important service.