Office Supplies and PC/IT Hardware Q & A Session Indiana Department of Administration Thursday, September 28, 2006

Question: Often times an item is substituted for what I ordered and the price is higher. Should the price be higher? Office Supplies Contract Answer: According to the contract, Office Max should be invoicing the equivalent or lower price for a substitution. Agencies should monitor their invoices for this. If you are charged a higher price for a substitution item, contact Teresa Buck for a credit. If you cannot get resolution through Teresa Buck, you should escalate to Susie Smith.

Question: Is there a minimum purchase amount for an order? Office Supplies Contract Answer: While a minimum purchase amount has not been established for an order, agencies should be consolidating orders as much as possible. Agencies should also be placing the majority of their office supply orders on a regular basis (biweekly or monthly) to avoid the $1.60 order. The Auditor’s Office has expressed some concern about the small amounts as well.

Question: I have a difficult time finding Office Max Brand and Guy Brown equivalents for toners and inkjet cartridges. Office Supplies Contract Answer: Demonstration.

Question: How do I communicate to the IDOA approver of a change to my requisition per their denial instructions. Office Supplies Contract Answer: You should ONLY be communicating your need for a non-market basket item through PeopleSoft in the header comments or line comments. DO NOT call or Susie Smith after your requisition has been denied. If you do, you will be directed to update your information in PeopleSoft.

Question: What is IDOA’s criteria for determining if a non-market basket item is approved or not. Office Supplies Contract Answer: Generally, the justifications in PeopleSoft are poorly written and do not answer the four questions outlined on the QPA page which can be found on IDOA Procurement’s website. If an agency takes the time to gather the information contained in those four questions, they will have better success in having their requisitions approved.

Question: How much time should I expect for IDOA’s review and approval/denial of a non-market basket purchase? Office Supplies Contract Answer: Clearly, one benefit to driving the purchasing to the market basket is that the process takes less time. Generally, IDOA can review and make a decision on a requisition within 48 hours, however, that is subject to change based on the mere volume of the requisitions received in a given day.

Question: I can’t find printers on the Office Max website. How do I purchase printers? Office Supplies Contract Answer: Printers were not within scope of this solicitation or contract. Desktop printers are within the Dell contract and large scale, network printers are within the IKON contract.

Question: If I can find an office supply item cheaper somewhere else, can I purchase from that other supplier? Office Supplies Contract Answer: No. One major goal of the OneIndiana project is to drive ALL of the State’s purchasing to one supplier so that we can demonstrate purchasing trends as one entity. This contract has rebates based on volume and contract activity which represent backend savings. This contract was competitively solicited and Office Max was awarded the contract based on that process.

Question: When will items be added to the market basket? Office Supplies Contract Answer: The first quarterly business review meeting with Office Max is scheduled for next week. IDOA will request statewide high volume non-market basket items be moved to the market basket at an agreed upon price. Keep in mind that it might be high volume for your agency but it may not constitute a statewide high volume product.

Question: Why do I have to justify regularly purchased non-market basket items each time? Office Supplies Contract Answer: IDOA reviews more than 100 requisitions per day that contain non-market basket items. You should simply keep your justification in a word document somewhere and copy and paste it into PeopleSoft (header comments) each time you purchase that item. It is impossible for us to remember a specific agency’s justification for one item. The volume of information that we review is just too large.

Question: Often times I find that non-market basket name brand toner or inkjet cartridge is less expensive than the Office Max or Guy Brown equivalent on the market basket. Why is that? Office Supplies Contract Answer: We aren’t sure however, you should purchase the less expensive product and mention this in your justification. We will never make an agency pay more for a market basket item when it can be found less expensive on the non-market basket.

Question: I have been experiencing problems with my purchase orders not being dispatched to Office Max. What is the problem? Office Supplies Contract Answer: You must save your requisition before you do your budget check. If you do not save before you do the budget check, your purchase order will not dispatch. Demonstration.

Question: I’ve been able to find technology items through Office Max at a lower price than Dell. Can I purchase through Office Max? Office Supplies Contract Answer: Office Max neither bid nor were they awarded a State contract for technology items. In their contract it states that they will not offer a discount on technology items as these items are not within scope of the Office Supply contract. Furthermore, in the instances where this has been reported to IDOA we have found that the products offered by Dell and Office Max are not comparable in specifications which accounts for the price difference.

Question: Substitute items are sometimes received and the price is different than the item ordered. If this shouldn’t happen, how are credits handled? Office Supplies Contract Answer: The contract specifies that substitutes of items equal to or better than the item ordered are okay, but the cost invoiced should reflect the price of the item ordered. Discrepancies should be reported to OfficeMax, and credit adjustments will be made based on the consignee number.

Question: Even when trying to consolidate smaller orders, we still end up receiving multiple invoices. Why would this happen? Office Supplies Contract Answer: Multiple invoices could be the result of back ordered items or multiple shipments to complete one order. We should always make the effort to consolidate small orders, though, to reduce the processing of really small payments.

Question: Instructions have been given by executives in my office not purchase generic equivalents. Will non-market basket requests be approved based on their instruction? Office Supplies Contract Answer: Requests based on this justification will not be approved. Executive officers hesitant about the policy may contact the Procurement Division director or IDOA Deputy Commissioner for discussion.

Question: I have trouble locating specific items and OfficeMax equivalents. Office Supplies Contract Answer: Using a specific product number in the Keyword Search field seems to be unreliable. To see all items in a category description, including market basket and non-market basket items, search the categories using the Full Line catalog as search criteria. Getting familiar with the categories and their contents will eliminate some frustration in locating specific items.

Question: Do we have other QPAs for toner cartridges? Office Supplies Contract Answer: There is currently a QPA with Hopewell, an INARF facility, for remanufactured toner cartridges. All agencies are encouraged to use this QPA. Go to Hopewell first. If the item you need isn’t available, then go to OfficeMax.

Question: Because of the volume of requests, it’s not recommended to contact IDOA with questions about non-market basket purchase approvals. If I have questions about a denial, how should I handle it? Office Supplies Contract Answer: Using PS as the resource for documenting justification and related information is imperative. Contacting IDOA outside of PS with questions about a denial or for assistance in locating products is perfectly acceptable.

Question: What is my justification if I simply can’t find a market basket item that meets my requirements? Office Supplies Contract Answer: Documenting that research was done is important. Search the market basket items (My Contract) first. If the item can’t be found, search the Full Line catalog. Then, note the steps taken and your consideration of market basket items.

Question: Are there employee purchase plans for these two contracts? Office Supplies/ PC Contract Answer: Dell has set this up through State Personnel. Information on the Dell employee purchase plan can be found at: ount.html. Office Max has not established their program with SPD yet but we will remind them of this in our quarterly business review meeting next week. ount.html

Question: Is there toner or ink in the market basket (Dell)? PC Contract Answer: Yes. All Dell toner is available from Dell only, and can be added to a requisition through the punch-out site. There is generally a 24-hour turnaround with these products.

Question: Do we have to use the Dell punch- out site through ePro? PC Contract Answer: Yes. When purchasing the standard market basket configurations, requisitions will start in ePro using the punch-out site to select/customize the items needed. If items other than the standard configurations are needed, these special requests should begin at and will become ePro requisitions once IOT assists in getting an eQuote from Dell.

Question: When I punch-out to the Dell site from ePro, will I always be able to select items, check out, and have them populate my requisition? PC Contract Answer: When purchasing the standard market basket configurations, the items selected will populate the ePro requisition following check-out. If items other than the standard configurations are needed, these special requests should begin at IOT will review the request and go to Dell for an eQuote. Users will be notified how to located the eQuote, and punch-out through ePro to retrieve it for the requisition.

Question: What do I do if I’m not able to find the Dell inkjet cartridge I need through the punch-out site? PC Contract Answer: Create a special request beginning at The intent is for these items to be available based on need, and IOT will work with Dell to add them to the punch-out

Question: Once I submit a special request through how should I follow up? PC Contract Answer: Generally, you should expect to be contacted within 24 hours. Inquiries can be submitted by from the webpage (above).

Question : Is Dell the sole option for purchasing PCs and peripherals? PC Contract Answer: IOT is currently working with DISYS to create a punch-out environment, and it’s very near completion. Items available from DISYS will be peripherals; smaller items only (excluding printers).

Question : What delivery time frames should I expect with purchases from Dell? PC Contract Answer: 3 to 5 days for punch-out items (standard configurations) is within IOT expectations, although some have experienced more lengthy spans (8 to 10 days). Users are encouraged to inform Mark Hempel of issues with service or delivery so he can address them with Dell.

Question : What is the term of the contract with Dell? PC Contract Answer: The current contract is for two years, with the option to renew for two additional years (a total of four years). Typically, the expectation with this type of contract is that it will be in place for four years unless there are problems that can’t be resolved or requests by the vendor for unreasonable price increases.