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Agency Questions
You can use the ONTE screen in AGPS to cross-reference the previous order and explain why it was necessary to re-issue the order. Follow up with a FAX. Your review file may require additional documentation such as sole source justification letter, etc. Agencies must follow the Small Purchases Executive Order, which defines procedures for purchases up to $25,000. Purchases must be in accordance with the Purchasing Rules and Regulations. No, agencies have the option of using State Purchasing's Vendors List, but are not required to use it. Their only concern is soliciting the correct number of bona fide bidders in accordance with the law. State Purchasing's vendor enrollment is an excellent source to identify those vendors who have expressed their interest in receiving bids for designated commodities. If a vendor sends your agency a written request to be included on your mailing list, you are obliged to honor the request and should add the vendor to the CASV screen. This information can be obtained from the Louisiana Department of Economic Development website by linking to Directories of Currently Certified Small and Emerging Businesses. Louisiana Economic
Development (LED) is responsible for certification of businesses
for participation in the Small Entrepreneurship (Hudson Initiative)
Program in compliance with Revised Statutes 39:2001 et seq.
LED maintains the list of certified businesses on its website,
which is accessible at https://smallbiz.louisianaforward.com/CertifiedSE_List.asp.
Those businesses which have elected to register in the State
of Louisiana Procurement and Contract (LaPAC) Network after
certification by LED may be accessed at http://wwwprd.doa.louisiana.gov/osp/lapac/Vendor/srchven.asp.
You may then determine the specific search criteria (i.e. by
company name, contact last name, parish, city, commodity, etc.),
and from the "SmallE" category, select "yes" from the dropdown.
In addition, a "quick list" of these small entrepreneurships
has been extracted from the LaPAC database and compiled by both
alpha and commodity may be accessed at The agency usually determines the need for a product in conjunction with the actual end user. The role of State Purchasing is to purchase in accordance with the laws, to ensure competition and provide guidance. Under no circumstances will late bids be accepted, regardless of the reason. All bids must be received by the bid opening date and time shown on the bid document. If a bid is delayed by actions of the agency, and this delay prejudices a vendor, then the agency must cancel the solicitation and rebid. The Office of State Purchasing has added a search tool to the State Contract database. This tool will enable agencies and the general public to access contract information. The search engine provides rapid access to the database by contract number, T Number, vendor, brand/model in addition to a general search. State contracts are updated nightly to assure current information is available. A copy and paste function have been included to copy into a "shopping cart" all data needed to create an order within AGPS. Consortia medical supply items have also been added. No. The previous file can be used as reference but a new sole source letter from the vendor along with price quote and published price list must be submitted. The agency must submit a new letter of justification also. Logic is to have the vendor certify each time that sole source conditions still exist, and that no other competitor has entered the marketplace or they have not established a distributor network. Purchase order changes should be issued against the original purchase order rather than issuing additional DPA orders. An OCHG produces the appropriate audit trail, usage records, and builds approvals to OSP. Notification of a pre-bid conference must be included in the solicitation. If the estimated value of the award is over $25,000 and attendance is mandatory, the pre-bid meeting must be advertised (Purchasing Rules and Regulations, Chapter 5, Section 511. The ad should include the conference date, time and location and should be at least ten days prior to the mandatory meeting date. A written request must be submitted to the Director of State Purchasing. The request must include adequate justification that the best interests of the state would be served by using the RFP procurement method instead of the ITB procurement method. This new legislation is applicable for procurement of high technology acquisitions or complex services or for procurement through a contract with a group purchasing organization (GPO) for the procurement of certain medical and laboratory supplies and medical equipment, only (LRS 39:1593/Act 692). Commodity code varies depending on the project. State agencies should initially make verbal contact with the vendor regarding a problem in contract performance. If the complaint remains unresolved, the agency sends a formal complaint (Deficiency/Complaint Form DA 3496) to the State Purchasing Office. State Purchasing will send the vendor a letter, with a copy of the complaint report, asking the vendor to investigate and respond within a time frame. If the matter cannot be resolved, a Contract Controversy Hearing will be held. State Use Program and Prison Enterprises orders are now handled through the CRO document type. When AGPS was originally setup, STU & SPU document types existed for these contracts; however, these document types could not interface with the inventory module and were deleted. This also simplified training - a CRO is now used across-the-board, regardless of the vendor. See State Purchasing's Contract Search on the Internet. In AGPS, there are several screens that can be used to access items on contract. Examples are CKWI - This is the commodity by keyword table. It provides the user with the capability to inquire commodity numbers by their keyword. Once the user decides that further detail is required, the user can leaf to the COM2 table for the selected commodity number. KDEC - This is the new contract by keyword screen. The key is the commodity description by keyword and the commodity number, contract number and line is displayed. KLBN - This screen can be used if you know that the item is on a brand name contract. CAWD - This screen can be used if you know the commodity number of an item. It displays the contract number, prime vendor's number, line number and contract expiration date. This screen lists both active and inactive contracts. CAAD - This screen is to list active contracts available for agency use. The key is the agency ship to number, sub agency number and commodity number. KVDL shows the contract vendor distribution list - the distributor vendors and their geographical service areas. The prime vendor for a contract can be found on KONT if you know the contract number or CAWD if you know the commodity code. KCSV - Contract Supplying Vendor by Catalog Item Table You may inquire on the catalog item number (for drugs from Morris & Dickson's invoice {first column} which is actually their epic number) on KCSV to find the contract number as well as the line number. KLCT - Contract Line Catalog Data tells the actual cost of each line item with markup included. (Bottom right hand corner) AGRP - Agency Group Table - To inquire on a particular group number to see if your agency can purchase from this pricing group. KLCB - Contract Line by Catalog Brand and Model Inquiry Table - This table displays the commodity number, contract number and line number if you know the manufacturer's name and NDC number. KCIV - Contract Catalog Item by Supplying Vendor Inquiry Table - This screen lists all items for a supplying vendor (Morris & Dickson) by order status. KDEC - Contract Commodity by Description Table - This screen tells you the commodity number, contract number and contract line number by entering the name of the product in which you are trying to find/buy. KSVC - Contract Supplying Vendor by Commodity Table - On this screen you can inquire on the commodity number and it tells the vendor name, number, contract and line number and ordering status. This is the National Drug Code number. This number identifies the product, manufacturer and packaging. It is shown in the "model" field for the drug contract. *********************************************************************************** DATA PROCESSING The best rule-of-thumb is to contact the State Purchasing Officer handling the file to discuss or submit documentation for their review. Hardware maintenance is never handled through the OCR. Software - if documentation contains wording such as "consulting," "modification," "to code," or "writing of code," then these usually will be handled through OCR. Yes. A blanket purchase order is issued giving the hourly rate to be charged and has a cap on the total dollar amount of the project. Agencies are cautioned to monitor these types of agreements closely to make sure that the time is documented for time worked. The auditors will need this information. Agencies should explore the vendor's various service offerings. It may be more cost effective to enter into a "packaged" support services agreement rather than procure needs on a time and materials basis. Non-competitive support services would include such things as installation of equipment on an equipment purchase, installation of software with equipment purchases, maintenance of hardware and software, some training on hardware/software when you purchase equipment. The majority of our BN PC contracts include a line for installation at an hourly rate. Many agencies utilized their in-house I/S personnel for installation. If installation is not covered by the contract nor offered by your personnel, then competitive bids should be solicited in accordance with Purchasing Rules and Regulations. This would be covered under support services and is non-competitive. However, the vendor must be made aware that any travel charges would have to be billed and reimbursed in accordance with the maximum allowable fees set forth in the State Travel Rules and Regulations, PPM 49. Your agency's I/S Director usually makes the determination. It is not normally made in the purchasing office. Sometimes the vendors will require that an agreement be signed. In this case, a copy of the agreement must be forwarded to State Purchasing for review and must comply with Louisiana law. You can contact the State Purchasing Office for advice. Some
requests are sent to State Purchasing under Class 715 (publications)
and some requests are sent as software requests. Either way,
they are non-competitive. |
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