DAS Statewide Price Agreements

A DAS Statewide Price Agreement (Price Agreement) is a master agreement for the procurement of products or services at agreed upon terms for use by all state entities. Price Agreements benefit agencies by obtaining price discounts and leveraging other concessions through volume purchases. Additionally, an agency avoids administrative, procurement and contract management burdens. DAS manages these processes for certain products and services to leverage the state’s buying power and reduce the need for multiple agencies to conduct solicitations and establish and manage individual contracts.

A Price Agreement comprises a group of common items or services competitively bid to set the prices contractually for a specified time period. The prices are frequently “ceiling” prices and an agency should seek to negotiate further discounts as applicable. A supplier awarded a Price Agreement contract is obligated to provide the specified products or services, at or below the contracted price and terms, to all agencies using the contract.

The DAS Statewide Price Agreement program efficiently leverages the state’s buying power to lower acquisition costs and strengthen terms and conditions. DAS recovers the cost to administer the program through fees that are included in Price Agreements. Administrative fees range from .5 to 2 percent of the cost of the product or service, depending on factors such as volume and usage. These fees are collected and reported by the suppliers for the contracts they are awarded. Fees are monitored throughout the year to determine if the program is generating revenue at levels needed to recover operating costs.

Resource: DAS maintains a webpage that lists existing statewide software license agreements.

Agencies must make their Buy Decision in the priority order specified in administrative rule. DAS Price Agreements are the fourth priority source and an agency may not elect to procure through a lower priority source, unless the agency determines that the procurement need cannot be met through use of a Price Agreement.

If DAS offers an applicable Price Agreement, and if it is a mandatory use agreement, the agency must use the Price Agreement to fulfill its procurement need. If the Price Agreement is not mandatory use, the decision to use an existing Price Agreement or to acquire the needed products and services from other sources is at the agency’s discretion.

Agencies should use the Price Agreements where possible because this is the most efficient acquisition method. However, if an agency chooses to procure needed products and services outside of the Price Agreements available, it is subject to all the requirements of the procurement method selected.

Price Agreements are accessible through OregonBuys. New agreements include a "Buyers Guide" which provides a brief overview of what the Price Agreement covers, including: