ACQUISITIONS

I. POLICY:

All acquisitions made within the Division of Administration must be properly justified, approved and acquired as specified in this policy. All acquisitions for the following must be justified using the attached Justification Form:

• acquisitions exceeding $1,000 for non-Information Technology (IT) items
• acquisitions exceeding $1,000 but less than $100,000 for standard IT items
• acquisitions for all non-standard IT items less than $100,000

IT acquisitions of $100,000 or more must be justified in the manner specified using the IT Request forms. These acquisitions require the approval of the Office of Information Technology (OIT) and the appropriate Procurement Support Team. The IT Request forms are located on the OIT website under IT Guidelines.

http://www.doa.louisiana.gov/oit/publications/pub_guidelines.htm

II. PURPOSE:

The purpose of this policy is to establish the procedure for acquisitions made within the Division of Administration.

III. APPLICABILITY:

This policy applies to all sections within the DOA, both appropriated and ancillary.

IV. PROCEDURES:

A. NON-INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ITEMS:

The DOA section head must complete the attached justification form and present the justification to the appropriate Assistant Commissioner. Upon review and approval by the Assistant Commissioner, the justification will be forwarded to the Deputy Undersecretary for approval consideration.

After approval of the Assistant Commissioner and Deputy Undersecretary is obtained, the justification form is forwarded to the appropriate procurement staff:

• For appropriated sections - Office of Finance and Support Services.
• For ancillary sections - the requesting section.

Any disapproval comments will be returned to the requesting section.

B. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ITEMS

1. Justification/Approval: It is the responsibility of the DOA sections to define the business requirement to justify the need for hardware and software, and to prepare the attached justification form. The OIS contact can assist the sections in identifying software to meet the business requirements. Once the business needs are defined, OCS is responsible for preparing the hardware configuration and identifying standard operating system and desktop software to run on that hardware, for inclusion with the justification.

For non-standard purchases (hardware/software), the DOA section must obtain approval from the OCS Director, the Assistant Commissioner and the Deputy Undersecretary. This process will assure the hardware or software fits into the overall DOA strategy.

For standard purchases (hardware/software), which are under $100,000, and for which funding has been requested and is available in OCS' budget, the DOA section must obtain approvals of the OCS Director, the Assistant Commissioner and the Deputy Undersecretary.

After signed approval has been obtained from OCS, the Assistant Commissioner, and the Deputy Undersecretary, the justification form is forwarded to the appropriate procurement staff:

• For appropriated sections - OCS Procurement Coordinator.
• For ancillary sections - the requesting section.

Any disapproval comments will be returned to the requesting section.

2. Funding: For the appropriated DOA sections, OCS will include as part of its budget request, the acquisition, lease/rental, and maintenance cost of all standard information technology hardware and software. It will be the responsibility of each section to fund non-standard hardware and software.

Ancillary DOA sections will fund the acquisition of all information technology hardware and the initial purchase of all software. OCS will fund, as part of its budget request for the ancillary DOA sections, the maintenance cost of all standard hardware and software. The ancillary section will be required to fund the maintenance of specialized software and hardware.

3. Hardware Acquisition: All acquisitions of hardware for DOA sections will be processed through OCS.

OCS is responsible for defining the configuration of hardware, preparing associated ITBs/RFPs, and initial preparation of requisitions for all sections in the DOA. The ancillary DOA sections are responsible for the final processing of any acquisition paperwork. OIS and/or OCS can supply representatives to attend the Procurement Support Team meetings (hardware and professional services), evaluate bids, and make the recommendation for vendor selection with participation from the section.

4. Software Acquisition: All standard software will be provided by OCS in accordance with OIT standards.

Any non-standard software must be selected by the respective user section and OIS, in conjunction with OCS. These packages must conform to the software, hardware, and support environment defined by OCS. Any package the user feels is justified, but which does not conform to this environment, must follow the justification process defined in this policy.

Software orders of $5,000 or more require approval of the Office of State Purchasing.

5. Hardware Receipt and Installation: All hardware will be delivered to OCS. OCS will inspect and configure the hardware according to specifications before it is installed for the section's use.

6. Inventory: All hardware, except that acquired by ancillary agencies, is the property of OCS and will be inventoried by OCS. It is the responsibility of ancillary sections to inventory the hardware that they have acquired for property control purposes. For hardware maintenance purposes, OCS will maintain a master inventory of all hardware for all sections in the DOA.

V. RESPONSIBILITY:

DOA section heads are responsible for assuring the proper approvals are obtained before acquiring any non-IT or IT standard item valued over $1,000, and any non-standard IT purchases.

VI. STANDARDS:

Standards are established by OCS and are located on the OCS website at https://isbwwwprod2.doa.louisiana.gov/OCS/pclan/LAN_Handbook/hardware.htm or https://isbwwwprod2.doa.louisiana.gov/OCS/pclan/LAN_Handbook/software.htm