The Midwestern Higher Education Compact recently invited WICHE to participate in more group purchasing arrangements to help colleges and universities in the West contain or reduce their administrative costs. Several of the purchasing agreements are also available to K-12 organizations; local, county, and state governments; and nonprofit organizations. The agreements aggregate volume purchases to lower product costs and reduce the time institutions must spend developing and conducting bids themselves. MHEC undertakes the time and expense of the RFP process, and institutions can purchase the goods or services knowing that the due diligence in selecting the vendor has already been done. Contracts available to institutions and organizations in the WICHE region include the following.

 
  • A full line of Dell new or refurbished computer equipment and components, as well as services, including installation, maintenance, support, and training. The contract extends through June 30, 2012. For more information, visit the Dell master price agreement page.
     
  • A three-year contract with four possible one-year renewals with Xerox for printing equipment and document management services. The contract also includes production-level printing services. In addition to hardware – such as multifunction devices, laser printers, copiers, and fax machines – the contract covers Xerox services, including productivity assessments and document advisories to help manage and streamline records and administrative documents. The full range of Xerox Global Services’ offerings is also available, including Xerox Office Productivity Assessments, which examine copy, print, and fax volumes across an entire organization and identify opportunities to save money by consolidating equipment. Members can also utilize Xerox’s Document Advisor Services to help manage the information overload of student records and administrative documents schools continually face.  For more information, visit the Xerox agreement page and the Xerox reseller sales agreement page.
     
  • Systemax (Global Government & Education Solutions and CompUSA) products and services are available under a three-year contract that ends on June 30, 2010. A full product list, including desktop and notebook computers, monitors, LCDs, servers, tape backups, and many other types of equipment and services, is available on the Global Government & Education Solutions and CompUSA contract page.
     
  • Juniper Networks high-performance network infrastructure may be purchased under a contract that extends through December 31, 2011, and covers a range of software, online tools, and hardware. More details are available on the Juniper master price agreement page.

 

 

November 2009  | Share this on Twitter | Post this on Facebook