Databus Issue: 2009 1 03/31/2008
E-Rate Update
Fred Brakeman PresidentPurchasing Options 101
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Wasn’t the 2008 CETPA conference in Sacramento the best ever! Quite a bit of new technology was shown and the amount of seminars almost doubled from the year prior. Infinity was pleased to present a session on Purchasing and were pleased to see how many attendees sat in on our presentation. Since then, we have received numerous requests for our PowerPoint presentation. We have made our presentations available on our website at http://www.infinitycomm.com.
For those of you that are new to your position or new to government purchasing, here is a brief primer on the rules you must follow to purchase products or services.
Follow State & Local Guidelines – If you are new to your position and are asked to purchase new products or services, the first place to start is to go to your Purchasing office or Chief Business Official and have them brief you on their rules you must follow. If it is an Erate project, along with following state and local regulations, you must also File a Form 470, make the RFP or bid available to all bidders the day you file your Form 470 if a RFP or bid is done, wait 28 days after filing the Form 470 before you receive bids back from Service Providers, sign contracts after the 28 day waiting period, and file the Form 471 before the end of the Form 471 filing deadline. If board action is required before contracts are signed, please don’t forget this step before the Form 471 is filed.
Familiarize Yourself with California Public Contract Code and California Education Code – Almost every product or service you intend to purchase is governed by one or both of these codes. Competitive bidding rules apply if the project is over $15,000 which includes material and labor or over $72,400 (adjusted for inflation each year) for either material or labor but not both. If the project is under these limits, you can “informally bid” these projects. It is suggest but it is not a state requirement that you still try and find at least two vendors to bid every project even if is under your informal bid limits. We are ware of many school districts that have local purchasing rules that require projects go out to public bid for projects under $15,000. If your project is going to be over the above limits you must:
1. Develop a bid (usually by hiring a firm who specializes in the design of the systems) and a set of bid specifications.
2. Run newspaper advertisements a minimum of once a week for two weeks
3. If a mandatory pre-bid meeting is conducted it must be included in the newspaper advertisement.
4. Public Bid Projects usually require Bid Bonds, Performance Bonds, and Payment Bonds. For more information go to Public Contract Code Sections 20107[20674] and 20111(b)[20651(b)].
5. You must award the bid to the “lowest responsive bidder”. Public Contract Code Section 201118.1 and Education Code Section 81645 allow for some flexibility if the equipment purchased is Data Processing Equipment. The district may contract with any of three lowest competitive bidders for the procurement and/or maintenance of electronic data processing systems and supporting software.
6. Public Contract Code requires that bids be closed on the date and time bids are to be received. Bids can be opened at a later date and time but bids can not be accepted late.
7. If the project increases the value of the building site such as cabling, additional rules apply such as the requirement that prevailing wages must be paid to all workers and Certified Payroll must be submitted. These projects are commonly referred to as Public Works projects.
Alternate Purchasing Methods –
With the exception of Public Works projects, there are a variety of Alternative Bidding Procedures you may use including:
1. California Master Award Schedule (CMAS) – If the product or service you intend to purchase is on a California State Master contract, you can purchase that product or service or combination of both from a state master contract holder that is authorized to sell those CMAS services. School district can purchase up to $2,000,000 for any one project or group of projects. Remember though, the pricing quoted is the highest paid for the product or service. Since many vendors could have a CMAS contract to provide that product or service, it is highly recommended you contact multiple vendors and you will usually notice a noticeable price reduction. For more information about CMAS contracts go to http://www.pd.dgs.ca.gov/cmas/default.htm
2. Piggybacking – Some products and services have already been put out to bid by another school district or the state. If the original bid documents provide contract language that other school districts can purchase off of the original contract, the district can do so.
3. Western States Contracting Alliance (WSCA) – WSCA is one commonly used Piggybacking contract that many schools use. Many manufacturers hold WSCA contracts as well as cellular telephone companies such as AT&T Mobility, Nextel, and Verizon. For more information go to http://www.aboutwsca.org/content.cfm/id/WSCA?CFID=361097397&CFTOKEN=34060809.
4. CalSAVE – CalSAVE is administered by the Monterey County Office of Education which provides discounted pricing and licensing for hardware, software, and other products and services. Like WSCA, this is another Piggybacking contract. For more information go to http://www.calsave.org/
If you intend to use one or more of the Alternate Purchasing Methods, please familiarize yourself with the terms and conditions of each contract. You may want to check with your Purchasing department to verify that the District is able to use these Alternate Purchasing Methods as this requires board action. Each Alternate Purchasing Method also has its own paperwork process you must follow and some such as CMAS have administrative fees that the District must pay. Many times, it is suggested you look at more than one Alternate Purchasing Method to see which one best meets the needs of the District and/or to see which one provides the lowest price for the product or service you are requesting. Don’t assume, just because you received a quote from an Alternate Purchasing vendor, that their price is the lowest you can get for the product or service. Many times, by shopping around, you can find significant savings.
Another good source of information is your fellow CETPA listserve members. Contacting a couple of other IT directors to see how they procure goods and services is a great way to get valuable information plus insight from your peers that have been in the trenches for a while and learned the hard way what they can and can not do.
