Procurement Approach for Exempt and NCB Contract Activities - 1508

Acceptance of State Terms & Conditions

When conducting goods and services purchasing activities that are exempt from competitive bidding or advertising or that are NCB contract purchases, a written offer and acceptance of the state’s terms and conditions shall be obtained when transacting business with the only known supplier.

Creating a Solicitation

The written offer and acceptance may be obtained by having the supplier respond to a solicitation document that is only provided to the one supplier.  Buyers should use the Request For Quotation (RFQ) format.  Conversely, a buyer also has the option to develop their own solicitation document that contains the following elements:

• Date and time the response is due,
• Details of the purchase, including quantities, description, support coverage, coverage dates, etc.
• Fill-in space or a cost sheet for the supplier to provide pricing, purchasing standard, EPP and SABRC,
• Request for the signature of the authorized supplier representative that can bind the company contractually,
• Reference or hardcopy the applicable state General Provisions and any additional contract modules (specific to goods or services) or special provisions applicable to the department (i.e. Cloud, etc.).

When using this solicitation approach to conduct business with the only known supplier, the supplier must be provided with an opportunity to review and accept the state’s terms and conditions prior to the state executing the purchase document.  This practice avoids the possibility of a dispute with suppliers once the purchase document is executed.

Supplier Contracts and Forms

Contract forms, license agreements, or ordering forms provided by suppliers shall not be signed by state employees.  These most often contain inconsistent terms and conditions and results in conflict with the state’s contract terms and conditions.

PAMS@dgs.ca.gov DGS/PD for assistance.

Signing Suppliers’ Software Licenses is Prohibited

Signing a supplier’s software license agreement is prohibited.  A review of the supplier’s software license must take place before a supplier’s software license agreement may be considered for incorporation into a purchase document.

Buyers must seek their department’s legal advice and contact DGS/PD/OTA for assistance.

NCB Amendments in FI$Cal

In FI$Cal to execute an amendment, buyers will be utilizing the “Change Order” functionality.

Once a transaction has been saved in FI$Cal, the “Acquisition Method” field can NOT be modified.  When the acquisition method for the amendment is different than the original purchase, buyers will be required to create a new procurement document in FI$Cal meeting the following conditions:

• The new “Contract ID” or “PO ID” must mirror the original agreement number where the suffix end in “-A” (dash A) for the new entry
  • When the original agreement number was automatically generated by the system, buyers will need to remove 2 of the leading zero’s to accommodate the suffix change
• Buyers will enter the previous transaction ID in either the “Contract Reference” or “PO Reference” field
• Buyers will attach a copy of all the original procurement documents in the “Add Comments and Attachments” link
• Buyers will also include a brief description of the amendment again utilizing the “Add Comments and Attachments” link

Each time an Amendment/”Change Order” is made to an existing FI$Cal transaction prior to “Save” user will need to select the appropriate value from the “Change Order Reason” table and be given the option to add in the comments section a description of what amendment/change is being executed.