Office Supplies and PCIT Hardware

1
Procurement Division
Indiana Department of Administration

• Office Supplies and PC/IT Hardware
• Q A Session

Thursday, September 28, 2006
2
Procurement Division
Office Supplies Contract

• Question Often times an item is substituted for
  what I ordered and the price is higher. Should
  the price be higher?

Answer According to the contract, Office Max
should be invoicing the equivalent or lower price
for a substitution. Agencies should monitor
their invoices for this. If you are charged a
higher price for a substitution item, contact
Teresa Buck for a credit. If you cannot get
resolution through Teresa Buck, you should
escalate to Susie Smith.
3
Procurement Division
Office Supplies Contract

• Question Is there a minimum purchase amount for
  an order?

Answer While a minimum purchase amount has not
been established for an order, agencies should be
consolidating orders as much as possible.
Agencies should also be placing the majority of
their office supply orders on a regular basis
(biweekly or monthly) to avoid the 1.60 order.
The Auditors Office has expressed some concern
about the small amounts as well.
4
Procurement Division
Office Supplies Contract

• Question I have a difficult time finding Office
  Max Brand and Guy Brown equivalents for toners
  and inkjet cartridges.

Answer Demonstration.
5
Procurement Division
Office Supplies Contract

• Question How do I communicate to the IDOA
  approver of a change to my requisition per their
  denial instructions.

Answer You should ONLY be communicating your
need for a non-market basket item through
PeopleSoft in the header comments or line
comments. DO NOT call or email Susie Smith after
your requisition has been denied. If you do, you
will be directed to update your information in
PeopleSoft.
6
Procurement Division
Office Supplies Contract

• Question What is IDOAs criteria for
  determining if a non-market basket item is
  approved or not.

Answer Generally, the justifications in
PeopleSoft are poorly written and do not answer
the four questions outlined on the QPA page which
can be found on IDOA Procurements website. If
an agency takes the time to gather the
information contained in those four questions,
they will have better success in having their
requisitions approved.
7
Procurement Division
Office Supplies Contract

• Question How much time should I expect for
  IDOAs review and approval/denial of a non-market
  basket purchase?

Answer Clearly, one benefit to driving the
purchasing to the market basket is that the
process takes less time. Generally, IDOA can
review and make a decision on a requisition
within 48 hours, however, that is subject to
change based on the mere volume of the
requisitions received in a given day.
8
Procurement Division
Office Supplies Contract

• Question I cant find printers on the Office
  Max website. How do I purchase printers?

Answer Printers were not within scope of this
solicitation or contract. Desktop printers are
within the Dell contract and large scale, network
printers are within the IKON contract.
9
Procurement Division
Office Supplies Contract

• Question If I can find an office supply item
  cheaper somewhere else, can I purchase from that
  other supplier?

Answer No. One major goal of the OneIndiana
project is to drive ALL of the States purchasing
to one supplier so that we can demonstrate
purchasing trends as one entity. This contract
has rebates based on volume and contract activity
which represent backend savings. This contract
was competitively solicited and Office Max was
awarded the contract based on that process.
10
Procurement Division
Office Supplies Contract

• Question When will items be added to the market
  basket?

Answer The first quarterly business review
meeting with Office Max is scheduled for next
week. IDOA will request statewide high volume
non-market basket items be moved to the market
basket at an agreed upon price. Keep in mind
that it might be high volume for your agency but
it may not constitute a statewide high volume
product.
11
Procurement Division
Office Supplies Contract

• Question Why do I have to justify regularly
  purchased non-market basket items each time?

Answer IDOA reviews more than 100 requisitions
per day that contain non-market basket items.
You should simply keep your justification in a
word document somewhere and copy and paste it
into PeopleSoft (header comments) each time you
purchase that item. It is impossible for us to
remember a specific agencys justification for
one item. The volume of information that we
review is just too large.
12
Procurement Division
Office Supplies Contract

• Question Often times I find that non-market
  basket name brand toner or inkjet cartridge is
  less expensive than the Office Max or Guy Brown
  equivalent on the market basket. Why is that?

Answer We arent sure however, you should
purchase the less expensive product and mention
this in your justification. We will never make
an agency pay more for a market basket item when
it can be found less expensive on the non-market
basket.
13
Procurement Division
Office Supplies Contract

• Question I have been experiencing problems with
  my purchase orders not being dispatched to Office
  Max. What is the problem?

Answer You must save your requisition before
you do your budget check. If you do not save
before you do the budget check, your purchase
order will not dispatch. Demonstration.
14
Procurement Division
Office Supplies Contract

• Question Ive been able to find technology
  items through Office Max at a lower price than
  Dell. Can I purchase through Office Max?

Answer Office Max neither bid nor were they
awarded a State contract for technology items.
In their contract it states that they will not
offer a discount on technology items as these
items are not within scope of the Office Supply
contract. Furthermore, in the instances where
this has been reported to IDOA we have found that
the products offered by Dell and Office Max are
not comparable in specifications which accounts
for the price difference.
15
Procurement Division
Office Supplies Contract

• Question Substitute items are sometimes
  received and the price is different than the item
  ordered. If this shouldnt happen, how are
  credits handled?

Answer The contract specifies that substitutes
of items equal to or better than the item ordered
are okay, but the cost invoiced should reflect
the price of the item ordered. Discrepancies
should be reported to OfficeMax, and credit
adjustments will be made based on the consignee
number.
16
Procurement Division
Office Supplies Contract

• Question Even when trying to consolidate
  smaller orders, we still end up receiving
  multiple invoices. Why would this happen?

Answer Multiple invoices could be the result of
back ordered items or multiple shipments to
complete one order. We should always make the
effort to consolidate small orders, though, to
reduce the processing of really small payments.
17
Procurement Division
Office Supplies Contract

• Question Instructions have been given by
  executives in my office not purchase generic
  equivalents. Will non-market basket requests be
  approved based on their instruction?

Answer Requests based on this justification
will not be approved. Executive officers
hesitant about the policy may contact the
Procurement Division director or IDOA Deputy
Commissioner for discussion.
18
Procurement Division
Office Supplies Contract

• Question I have trouble locating specific items
  and OfficeMax equivalents.

Answer Using a specific product number in the
Keyword Search field seems to be unreliable. To
see all items in a category description,
including market basket and non-market basket
items, search the categories using the Full Line
catalog as search criteria. Getting familiar
with the categories and their contents will
eliminate some frustration in locating specific
items.
19
Procurement Division
Office Supplies Contract

• Question Do we have other QPAs for toner
  cartridges?

Answer There is currently a QPA with Hopewell,
an INARF facility, for remanufactured toner
cartridges. All agencies are encouraged to use
this QPA. Go to Hopewell first. If the item you
need isnt available, then go to OfficeMax.
20
Procurement Division
Office Supplies Contract

• Question Because of the volume of requests,
  its not recommended to contact IDOA with
  questions about non-market basket purchase
  approvals. If I have questions about a denial,
  how should I handle it?

Answer Using PS as the resource for documenting
justification and related information is
imperative. Contacting IDOA outside of PS with
questions about a denial or for assistance in
locating products is perfectly acceptable.
21
Procurement Division
Office Supplies Contract

• Question What is my justification if I simply
  cant find a market basket item that meets my
  requirements?

Answer Documenting that research was done is
important. Search the market basket items (My
Contract) first. If the item cant be found,
search the Full Line catalog. Then, note the
steps taken and your consideration of market
basket items.
22
Procurement Division
Office Supplies/ PC Contract

• Question Are there employee purchase plans for
  these two contracts?

Answer Dell has set this up through State
Personnel. Information on the Dell employee
purchase plan can be found at
http//www.in.gov/jobs/special_projects/discount.h
tml. Office Max has not established their
program with SPD yet but we will remind them of
this in our quarterly business review meeting
next week.
23
Procurement Division
PC Contract

• Question Is there toner or ink in the market
  basket (Dell)?

Answer Yes. All Dell toner is available from
Dell only, and can be added to a requisition
through the punch-out site. There is generally a
24-hour turnaround with these products.
24
Procurement Division
PC Contract

• Question Do we have to use the Dell punch-out
  site through ePro?

Answer Yes. When purchasing the standard
market basket configurations, requisitions will
start in ePro using the punch-out site to
select/customize the items needed. If items
other than the standard configurations are
needed, these special requests should begin at
IOTProcurementRequest_at_iot.IN.gov, and will become
ePro requisitions once IOT assists in getting an
eQuote from Dell.
25
Procurement Division
PC Contract

• Question When I punch-out to the Dell site from
  ePro, will I always be able to select items,
  check out, and have them populate my requisition?

Answer When purchasing the standard market
basket configurations, the items selected will
populate the ePro requisition following
check-out. If items other than the standard
configurations are needed, these special requests
should begin at IOTProcurementRequest_at_iot.IN.gov.
IOT will review the request and go to Dell for
an eQuote. Users will be notified how to located
the eQuote, and punch-out through ePro to
retrieve it for the requisition.
26
Procurement Division
PC Contract

• Question What do I do if Im not able to find
  the Dell inkjet cartridge I need through the
  punch-out site?

Answer Create a special request beginning at
IOTProcurementRequest_at_iot.IN.gov. The intent is
for these items to be available based on need,
and IOT will work with Dell to add them to the
punch-out site.
27
Procurement Division
PC Contract

• Question Once I submit a special request
  through IOTProcurementRequest_at_iot.IN.gov, how
  should I follow up?

Answer Generally, you should expect to be
contacted within 24 hours. Inquiries can be
submitted by email from the webpage (above).
28
Procurement Division
PC Contract

• Question Is Dell the sole option for purchasing
  PCs and peripherals?

Answer IOT is currently working with DISYS to
create a punch-out environment, and its very
near completion. Items available from DISYS will
be peripherals smaller items only (excluding
printers).
29
Procurement Division
PC Contract

• Question What delivery time frames should I
  expect with purchases from Dell?

Answer 3 to 5 days for punch-out items (standard
configurations) is within IOT expectations,
although some have experienced more lengthy spans
(8 to 10 days). Users are encouraged to inform
Mark Hempel of issues with service or delivery so
he can address them with Dell.
30
Procurement Division
PC Contract

• Question What is the term of the contract with
  Dell?

Answer The current contract is for two years,
with the option to renew for two additional years
(a total of four years). Typically, the
expectation with this type of contract is that it
will be in place for four years unless there are
problems that cant be resolved or requests by
the vendor for unreasonable price increases.