March 19, 2004

Purchase Order Determination Update

CONTRACT DOCUMENTATION

The Auditor General indicated in a March 17, 2004 email that it is the responsibility of members to determine whether their new purchases/contracts through MESC are being made in compliance with the procurement rules. Mohave is preparing information packages that should satisfy reasonable due diligence requirements for making such a determination. Each package will include the following files:

Contract Response Summary

Signed Contract Page
Notice of Award
General Terms and Conditions Acceptance Form
Special Terms and Conditions and Scope of Work and Specifications Acceptance Form
Vendor Questionnaire
Award Recommendation and Approval
Bidders List
Bid Receipt Log

Pricing Information

The Request for Proposals or Invitation for Bid

The Request for Best and Final Offers (applies to proposals only)

The MESC Executive Board's determination for using the competitive sealed proposal method of procurement (applies to proposals only)

The information packages will be available for download from our website at www.mesc.org/purchasing.html. We anticipate that posting will begin the week of March 22, 2004.

We are confident the information packages will contain the information necessary to continue use of Mohave contracts. Any member requiring additional information should contact the Mohave Contracts Team: Tom Peeler, tom@mesc.org, Craig McKee, craig@mesc.org, and Mark DiBlasi, mark@mesc.org.

In addition to the information above, Mohave is preparing two other contract resources:

1. The expenditure portion of the USFR Questionnaire with notations applicable to Mohave purchases. This document will help members determine which questions apply to Mohave purchases and what information is available to answer those questions.

2. A summary of the procurement rules for Invitations for Bid and Requests for Proposals requirements with notations where those requirements are met in Mohave’s procurement solicitations. This document will help members confirm that Mohave’s IFBs and RFPs comply with the procurement rules.

PURCHASE ORDER STATUS

The Auditor General’s email indicated that for purchases in place before March 17, 2004, “…our office will not include any deficiencies related to MESC purchases in our determination of whether a district or charter school has complied with the USFR/USFRCS for those fiscal years.” All such orders have been, or will be, placed with vendors. Members can anticipate completion of the orders without any delay.

The email did not discourage continued use of Mohave contracts. Instead, it notified members of the requirement to determine that their future MESC purchases comply with the requirements in the procurement rules. We believe the information packages referenced above will provide the documentation necessary to make that determination.

Mohave will continue to work with the Auditor General’s Office for resolution of all outstanding issues and will keep members informed of the status of negotiations.

Rev. 3/19/04, JTP