H97 - 2015 Appropriations Act, Sec. 8.14: Collaborative Procurement (SL 2015-241)

Overview: Sec. 8.14 of S.L. 2015-241 directs the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) to work collaboratively with the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation of North Carolina State University (Friday Institute) to implement public school cooperative purchasing agreements for the procurement of information technology goods and services to support local school administrative units, regional schools, charter schools, or a combination of these entities for collaborative or collective purchases to reduce costs. These cooperative purchasing agreements must be based on defined statewide information technology needs to support education, and must allow for equal access to technology tools and services.

By October 15, 2015, and annually thereafter, DPI and the Friday Institute must report on the establishment of the cooperative purchasing agreements and the savings from establishing these agreements to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Information Technology, the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee, and the Fiscal Research Division.

This section became effective July 1, 2015.