Summary

The Kern County Superintendent of Schools has awarded a competitively bid contract for Microsoft Computer Software licenses that beats existing benchmark prices in California for some of the most popular Microsoft products.

The award was made in December 2004, and was adopted into the suite of EdBuy contracts in June of 2005 because the pricing was determined to provide the best value to California schools from among available piggybackable contracts for Microsoft.

The awarded vendor is Digital Information Services, doing business as Computer Intelligence Association, of Potomac, Maryland.

All school districts and county offices of education are eligible to use the contract and are specifically identified as potential users in the bid documents.

Commodity Overview

Microsoft uses dealers and resellers as the distribution channel for its products. Thus, there is competitive pressure among resellers to provide best pricing for already low-priced academic and education licensing. Microsoft controls the types of licenses available, plus the scope and language of licensing. The purchase of a license constitutes an agreement between the education agency and Microsoft, not the reseller. The payment of a license fee gives the buying education agency the right to use a specific Microsoft application or operating system. Software is always licensed - never owned by the buying agency. Microsoft offers different types of licenses for the same product. The EdBuy contract offers the Open License type of product.

As with competing contracts, there is an additional fee if a CD or media copy of the application is required by the buying agency. Another additional fee is necessary to secure any manuals or hardcopy documentation.

To view the full PDF version of this bulletin click here or follow the View as Acrobat PDF link in the top corner.