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Develop Mechanisms to Reduce Campus IT Costs
April 2003

Goal:
To reduce the total cost of ownership of Information Technology for CITS, the Schools, and administrative units of the University.

Objective: 

• To consolidate, where possible, hardware maintenance and software licensing contracts across the campus.
• To identify standard hardware and software procurements and coordinate the purchases through volume discount vehicles.
• To assess and implement, if desirable and where possible, hardware leasing programs for the campus community.

 Current State:
Universities within the USM as well as other state agencies have various contracts in place for the acquisition and support of IT products and services. These contracts may not be serving the needs of our campus community. Not all contracts that are available to us provide the goods and service that we need. Given the current fiscal environment, we need to leverage our collective purchasing power to reduce our cost of IT ownership. Currently, there is no campus-wide mechanism for reviewing any possible duplication and redundancy of IT purchases and support, nor any mechanism for cost-effectively buying and supporting these investments in technology.

Schedule:

Jan. 2003:

• Organized a working group of IT leaders from the schools, administrative areas and CITS in preparation of discussions on how to reduce our IT costs.
• Develop an e-mail list for communication purposes for the working group.

 Jan. - April 2003:

• Compile a list of hardware contracts for the purchase of servers, desktops, network equipment, software, and the other categories of IT products and supplies that we all use.
• Develop a spreadsheet that lists the various types of peripherals and accessories that we all purchase to determine whether a bid document should be developed for the campus community.
• Investigate the possibility of developing a contract with a vendor to extend maintenance beyond contract period.
• Investigate the possibility of developing a contract for laserjet PM.
• Research information related to: maximum and minimum borrowing limits; interest rates and payback periods available through Systems administration.
• Prepare an inventory of expected hardware purchases for FY 2004.

 Apr. - May 2003:

• Enlist the support of the working group to react to the potential saving that might be realized by coordinating our buying power. Report on findings and present to CIO and IT Leaders.

Outcome:
A reduction in the total cost of ownership for IT operations.