About Us

The Little TN Valley Educational Cooperative (LTVEC) is a non-profit education agency.  We have been dedicated to providing psychology services, rehabilitation staffing, and assistive technology services to East Tennessee school systems for more than 30 years.   For more information about LTVEC, visit www.ltvec.org 
 
In response to requests from systems for increased cost management with Assistive Technology purchasing, the B.E.S.T. Discount Purchasing Program was created in September, 2005.  Discounts are solicited from vendors and manufacturers of more than 15,000 Assistive Technology and therapy products.  Prices are re-negotiated every six (6) months and printed price lists are mailed out to participating members within the state.

The program was initially created to serve only our local systems, but the concept was so well received by the Tennessee Association for Assistive Technology (TAAT) and the Tennessee Department of Education that enrollment was opened statewide. All schools, institutions, and non-profit agencies serving the disabled are eligible to order items from our price list at these discounts.

How Does it Work?              

Our discount purchasing program works like this:

  • Participating members use the discount price list to prepare their purchase orders
  • The PO is then faxed or mailed to LTVEC. 
  • LTVEC checks them for accuracy and completion, and encodes them (for each company).
  • We then submit them directly from our agency to the supplier. 
  • The supplier ships directly to the school system, then bills LTVEC. 
  • We pay the supplier within 30 days and, in turn, send an invoice to the school system. 
  • The system pays (reimbursing) us.

Your purchase order number will accompany our invoice just as it would from a direct catalog purchase. There is no fee to participate. Interested systems and agencies simply fill out a simple registration form so that we have billing information and a list of personnel from your system who are authorized to submit purchase orders.

The Center for Assistive Technology and BEST Purchasing Programs are operated by The Little Tennessee Valley Educational Cooperative, a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization registered as a charity with the Tennessee Office of the Secretary of State.