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Charge

December 1999

UW System Internal Audit issued a draft Library Acquisition Review. The review recommended that UW libraries "review options for reducing the overall cost of acquiring materials." The options to be reviewed were listed as follows:

· Implement competitive bidding practices;

· Form a system-wide consortium for the negotiation and contracting of monograph and periodical purchases in order to take advantage of volume and mix factors;

· Review methods to take full advantage of available discounts for periodical renewals and approval plans;

· Consider the use of memberships in place of subscriptions.

In November 1998, CUWL requested that the CDC work with Ellen James (UWS Office of Procurement) to investigate the possibility of multi-vendor contracts. Over the year, the CDC did some preliminary analysis of procedures needed to set up a competitive process. At the CUWL meeting in November 1999, the CDC requested and CUWL approved the appointment of a task force to work with Lori Voss (UWS, Division of Procurement) and Lorie Docken (UWS Office of Learning & Information Technology) on implementation of "competitive bidding practices."

The charge to this Task Force is to implement a non-binding, multiple-vendor, domestic book contract through a competitive process. Proceeding with a competitive process will be a significant step in addressing the first two options of the audit report.

Furthermore, CUWL has charged the CDC Book Bid Task Force to explore service options for receiving shelf-ready books (MARC records and processed books) into any UW System domestic book contract.

The goal will be to have an interim report to CUWL at their February meeting and a final report/recommendation available at their CUWL spring meeting.

 

Write a Request for Bid. The request will be for Books and other related library resources which will result in a recommendation for a primary vendor for domestic books as well as a vendor for audiovisual materials.

• The book bid will include all UW Libraries, thereby leveraging our joint purchasing power for the best discount possible. The bid will include language requiring that the primary book vendor has existing capabilities and tools to share libraries order, approval and holdings data to make informed collaborative purchasing decisions and provide reports to evaluate our collection holdings.

• The selected primary book vendor will be able to support broad approval plans as well as firm orders. The selected primary audiovisual vendor will provide extensive audiovisual materials. It is possible that another vendor will be recommended for rush orders and competitive pricing should be pursued.

• The book bid may need to be structured with two sections to include a primary vendor for collaborative purchasing and a separate list of approved book vendors for materials not available from this vendor or best purchased from another source.

The CUWL Executive Committee would like a preliminary update at CUWL’s summer meeting on July 25th. The Executive Committee anticipates that a request for bid can be sent out this summer in order to formalize purchasing options by late summer so these options can be carefully reviewed by UW libraries.