262.9B  Cooperative purchasing.
  1.  Overview.  The state board of regents for institutions under its control shall coordinate interagency cooperation with state agencies, as defined in section 8A.101, in the area of purchasing and information technology with the goal of annually increasing the amount of joint purchasing. The board and the institutions under the control of the board shall engage the department of administrative services, the chief information officer of the state, and other state agencies authorized to purchase goods and services in pursuing mutually beneficial activities relating to purchasing items and acquiring information technology. The board and the institutions shall explore ways to leverage resources, identify cost savings, implement efficiencies, and improve effectiveness without compromising the mission of the board and the institutions under the control of the board relative to students and research commitments.
  2.  Purchasing.
  a.  The board shall direct the institutions under its control to cooperate with the department of administrative services and other state agencies authorized to purchase goods and services in efforts to collaboratively purchase goods and services that result in mutual cost savings and efficiency improvements.
  b.  The board and the institutions under its control shall assist the department of administrative services by doing the following:
  (1)  Identifying best practices that produce cost savings and improve state government processes.
  (2)  Exploring joint purchases of general use items that result in mutual procurement of quality goods and services at the lowest reasonable cost.
  (3)  Exploring flexibility, administrative relief, and transformational changes through procurement technology.
  c.  The board shall convene at least quarterly an interagency purchasing group meeting including the institutions under its control, the department of administrative services, the department of transportation, and any other state agency authorized to purchase goods and services, for the purposes of timely cooperation in purchasing goods and services and for the identification of practical measures that improve state agency performance of programs and operations, reduce total costs of state government operations, increase productivity, improve services and make state government more responsive and accountable to the public.
  3.  Information technology.
  a.  The board shall direct institutions under its control to cooperate with the chief information officer of the state in efforts to cooperatively obtain information technology and related services that result in mutual cost savings and efficiency improvements, and shall seek input from the chief information officer of the state regarding specific areas of potential cooperation between the institutions under the control of the board and the office of the chief information officer.
  b.  The board shall convene at least quarterly an interagency information technology group meeting including the institutions under its control, the state chief information officer and any other agency authorized to purchase goods and services, for purposes of timely cooperation in obtaining information technology and related services.
  4.  Cooperative purchasing plan.  The board shall, before July 1 of each year, prepare a plan that identifies specific areas of cooperation between the institutions under its control, the department of administrative services, and the chief information officer of the state that will be addressed for the next fiscal year including timelines for implementing, analyzing, and evaluating each of the areas of cooperation. The plan shall also identify the potential for greater interinstitutional cooperation in areas that would result in a net cost savings.
  5.  Report.  The board shall, on or before November 1, submit a report to the general assembly and the governor providing information on the cooperative purchasing plan prepared for that fiscal year by the board and on the results of the quarterly interagency meetings, including the specific cost savings or efficiency gains that have resulted from utilization of cooperative efforts and the implementation of identified best practices.
2010 Acts, ch 1031, §70; 2013 Acts, ch 129, §29
Referred to in §8A.312