Q: Are Council of State agencies expected to use the new IT procurement process that is enabled through the N.C. eProcurement Sourcing Tool?
A: Yes.
Q: Does the new IT procurement process address procuring zero-cost, open-source tools that have click-through agreements that need both IT security and legal review, despite being below delegation?
A: All desktop software purchases (e.g., monitoring tools and office-type software) are under the authority of the state agency’s security office and/or agency head. Per the N.C. Department of Information Technology's Enterprise Security and Risk Management Office, desktop software purchases do not require ESRMO approval for purchase or installation. It is incumbent on the procuring state agency to ensure its procurement (within its delegation authority) complies with the applicable North Carolina statutes and IT policies. State agencies using the N.C. eProcurement system would create a purchase request in the Buyer module to route the desktop software purchase through the applicable state agency reviewers (e.g., budget, IT security, legal, management) for approvals. These purchases would not need to be entered into the N.C. eProcurement Sourcing Tool.
Q: Does every sourcing project for IT goods or services go through the same 10 steps within the new IT procurement process?
A: Every sourcing project created for an IT solicitation contains all 10 steps in the new IT procurement process. However, not all steps - or tasks within the steps - are mandatory for every sourcing project. For example, an agency may determine that negotiations and the Request for BAFO process are not needed for a simple procurement (e.g., IFB). The sourcing project owner can elect to not do any of the tasks that are not marked as required (with a red asterisk) on the tasks tab of the N.C. eProcurement Sourcing Tool.
Q: What happens when an approval task is denied?
A: When an approval task is denied, the approval process stops, and the agency will need to address the identified issues. Once all issues have been addressed, the sourcing project owner resubmits the document for approval, starting at the beginning of the approval workflow.
Sourcing project owners are encouraged to include a summary of what changed since the last submission in the comments field of the approval task. This will help approvers determine if they need to review the document again before approving.
Q: What notifications are sent to reviewers and approvers by the eProcurement Sourcing Tool?
A: The sourcing tool will send email notifications to reviewers and approvers when they are activated as an approver or reviewer in a workflow. The sourcing tool will also send email notifications to them for tasks that are past the requested completion date that the agency selected. NOTE: Sourcing tool users can turn off email notifications in the sourcing tool.
Q: Will the Statewide IT Procurement Office send the state agency an Approval to Post memo?
A: Yes. The Statewide IT Procurement Office will attach an Approval to Post memo to the draft IT solicitation document approval task once the agency is approved to post the IT solicitation document.
Have Questions?
For questions or issues in using the NC eProcurement Tool, please contact the NCEP Help Desk at 888-211-7440 (select option 1) or ephelpdesk@its.nc.gov.
- Procurement Guidance Team - for questions related to the IT procurement process, send an email to PGT@nc.gov. You can also schedule an appointment with the team.
- PGT Availability: Every Tuesday and Thursday, from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.
- Scheduling an appointment: Visit PGT Office Hours to select an available day and time.