New Policy on Print and Mail Purchases Released
The State Bureau of Procurement recently released Procurement Information Memorandum (PIM) 19-001, Printing and Mailing Purchases by State Agencies, under Executive Order 288. Executive Order 288 directs agencies to consolidate print and mail operations with DOA’s Division of Enterprise Technology, Bureau of Publishing and Distribution (BPAD) unless they obtain a waiver from the DOA Secretary. The PIM requires agencies to include BPAD and Badger State Industries (BSI) in all bids for print/mail and limits the purchase of print/mail equipment until BPAD approves. No waiver is needed for the use of mandatory statewide contracts for various classes of print jobs. A link to the new PIM may be found in PRO-B-10 of the State Procurement Manual. Questions regarding this PIM should be directed to doawispro@wisconsin.gov.
State Procurement Manual Policy Update
The State Procurement Manual reform effort has reached an important milestone – the interagency workgroup has now taken action on over 50% of the manual. The group has been working to update the manual since January 2018 and has acted on 95 policy sections, or 60.5% of the 157 sections of the current State Procurement Manual. Through this process, the workgroup has been able to streamline the sections, resulting in a 45% reduction in pages to the 420-page manual so far.
The current focus of the workgroup is to review and update the transactional policies, which will combine six existing manual pieces (PRO-E-1 Purchase Order; PRO-E-16 Contract Blanket Orders; PRO-E-2 Purchase Requisition; PRO-E-20 Release Orders; PRO-E-4 Direct Charges, Invoices and Vouchers; and PRO-E-9 Noncontract Blanket Orders) into a new policy titled, “Purchase Orders, Requisitions and Methods of Payments.” All revised manual sections will be released at the same time with a current target publication date of Spring 2019. More information will be shared as this project continues to progress. For more information, contact doawispro@wisconsin.gov.
Training Updates
Software Licensing 101. IT procurement has many dimensions and the markets are constantly changing. Buying evolving solutions for customers with ever-increasing demands is exciting, but also carries its challenges. This session will be a candid, practical and often witty look at negotiations, methodology, tools and approaches to managing the sourcing and contracting processes of IT. Join us as we review tools and methods that can be most effective in IT procurement events. Participants will learn to recognize what makes IT procurement unique and discuss ways to capitalize on those elements as well as discussing negotiation approaches to IT contracts and software licenses.
The next class is scheduled for November 14 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and space is still available! The class is open to current State employees and there are no prerequisites. Sign up today on the SBOP Training page or contact Jessica Vieira at (608) 266-5452 with any questions.
Contract Spotlight
Facilities Maintenance and Repair and Operations (MRO) and Industrial Supplies. The State of Wisconsin has signed Participating Addendums with two of the awarded vendors for the NASPO ValuePoint Facilities Maintenance and Repair & Operations (MRO) and Industrial Supplies contract (505ENT-M19-FACILITMRO-00): Fastenal and W.W. Grainger. This contract is effective through June 30, 2019 with yearly optional renewals through June 30, 2023. The scope of this contract covers a broad range of replacement parts, equipment and supplies necessary to maintain, repair and operate State facilities with the exclusion of commodities that are covered on other mandatory contracts. Please contact Brooke Gullick with any questions at (608) 266-0817.
Professional Grade Tools & Diagnostic Equipment. The State of Wisconsin has signed Participating Addendums with two of the awarded vendors for NASPO ValuePoint Professional Grade Tools and Diagnostic Equipment contract (505ENT-O19-POWERTOOLS-00): Hilti, Inc. and Snap-On Industrial. This is a secondary contract and end-users must first utilize the mandatory Facilities MRO contract (505ENT-M19-FACILITMRO-00) for tools and diagnostic equipment. If the Facilities MRO contract is unable to meet a user’s needs, the user must obtain a waiver from the contract manager before purchasing from the Professional Grade Tools and Diagnostic Equipment contract. Please contact Brooke Gullick at (608) 266-0817 with any questions.
Auto Parts – Immediate Need Aftermarket (2016-2021). The State Bureau of Procurement is considering participating on the NASPO ValuePoint Auto Parts – Immediate Need Aftermarket contract and is looking for input from State agencies, UW System campuses and municipalities who routinely make purchases on aftermarket auto parts. Please contact Brooke Gullick at (608)266-0817 to express your interest in this contract.
Be Aware of Fraud
Procurement is an area that can be targeted by fraudsters. To prevent fraud, SBOP has some tips for you to be aware of:
If you receive a large shipment that you did not order, you should be concerned this could be fraud.
Contact the Contractor Account Rep for any returns to make sure the return is not part of a fraud attempt. The vendor’s contract information will be listed on the contract (you can search for the applicable contract on VendorNet). You may also contact the contract manager with any concerns.
If you are contacted by email, pay close attention to the email address. Fraudsters will try to closely mimic an email address, but you should be able to spot the difference. For example, the CDW-G address is "@cdwg.com", but the fraudsters may use "@CDW-llc.com".
Check the shipping label for the return. Fraudulent return labels typically do not include the company name in the Ship To Address.
Be suspicious of messages marked Rush or Urgent Response Required. Often fraudsters create a sense of urgency in order to get you to make a poor decision. This may be noted in the email’s subject line, within an emailed message or it may be communicated during a phone conversation.
Pay attention to the language and grammar used in emails, especially if it is requesting a return of merchandise. Often fraudulent messages include typos, spelling errors or are written in all capital letters.
Look closely at the email’s signature block. Legitimate vendors often include a link to the company’s website, a company logo and/or a toll-free phone number.
The Department of Administration takes a proactive approach and works with law enforcement to prevent, detect and investigate fraud attempts. If you experience similar issues or have any questions related to vendor contracts, please contact (608) 266-2605 or doawispro@wisconsin.gov.
Strategic Sourcing: Tips and Tricks
Tip for Evaluators: When an evaluator is reviewing a submitted response, it is often necessary for them to scroll down to see the full response. In some cases, evaluators have seen the benchmarking information and missed the submitted response because they did not scroll down far enough and have assigned scores of zero.
Uploading Files: While sourcing managers may upload many types of files to their Strategic Sourcing event and bidders may likewise upload a variety of file types with their response, not all file types are compatible. The following is a complete list of the file types that may currently be uploaded to Strategic Sourcing and eSupplier: .BMP, .CSV, .DOC, .DOCX, .GIF, .HTM, .HTML, .ICS, .IFF, .JPEG, .JPG, .LSM, .MHT, .MPP, .MSG, .ODT, .PDF, .PNG, .PPT, .PPTX, .PSD, .RTF, .TEXT, .TIF, .TIFF, .TXT, .VSD, .VSDX, .WKS, .WPS, .XLS, .XLSM, .XLSX, .XML, .XPS and .ZIP.
Shortcut to Sourcing Events: Did you know you can add shortcuts in PeopleSoft, including to Strategic Sourcing events you’re working on? To do this, navigate to your event’s homepage and click the “Add to Favorites” link on the upper right-hand side of the page. To access this page using the shortcut, click the “Favorites” menu on the upper left-hand side of page and click on your event.
Looking for additional resources for Strategic Sourcing? STAR agencies can access a variety of job aids, tools and resources on STARConnection (STAR Connection > Resources > Finance and Procurement > Job Aids > Search for “Strategic Sourcing”). If you would like to share a Strategic Sourcing tip or trick you’ve learned, please email your ideas to Jessica Vieira.
WISBuy
Holiday Shipping Schedules. Shipping schedules are often altered during this time of year. When ordering from WISBuy during the holiday season, be sure to check suppliers’ shipping schedules and plan your orders accordingly. Email doawispro@wisconsin.gov with questions about WISBuy.