Work Order Contracts

A Work Order Contract is a contract issued against a master price agreement that has established a pool of suppliers to provide a general or professional service. An agency can issue a work order to the pool of suppliers using the appropriate process, including any screening and selection process, for the given master price agreement.

 

Generally, the State Chief Procurement Officer (State CPO) will establish DAS Statewide Price Agreements for agencies’ mandatory or discretionary use. Depending on their procurement authority, however, an agency or group of agencies may also establish a similar contract for their use.

 

A procurement professional can use a Work Order Contract to efficiently identify, engage and contract with one or more eligible service providers that meet an agency’s needs. The Work Order Contract includes a statement of work that details the specific scope of services required to meet the agency need, and incorporates any required tasks and deliverables, NTE pricing, terms and conditions agreed to between the state and the service provider in the master price agreement, expediting the procurement process.

 

An agency must make its Buy Decision in the priority order specified in administrative rule. DAS Statewide Price Agreements are the fourth priority source. An agency may not elect to procure through a lower priority source unless the agency determines that a price agreement cannot meet its procurement need.

 

If DAS offers an applicable price agreement, and it is a mandatory use agreement, an agency must use the price agreement to fulfill its procurement need. If the price agreement is not designated as mandatory use, it is at the agency’s discretion to either use an existing price agreement or acquire the needed products and services from other sources, including its own price agreement.

 

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

 

When an agency seeks to procure general or professional services for which there is not a current DAS Statewide Price Agreement or agency price agreement, it should consider the value of establishing a price agreement with a Work Order Contract approach. If the agency plans to procure the same or similar services numerous times throughout the year, it should consider establishing a price agreement with a Work Order Contract approach.

 

The specific process for how to execute a Work Order Contract is dependent on the price agreement type. DAS Statewide Price Agreements include “Buyers’ Guides” that provide details of the contract including:

If the agency is using its own price agreement, the agency will need to reference its contract and appropriate supporting documentation for proper use of the contract.