May 6, 2014 at 10:00 AM - Coop Committee Meeting

Discussion:  It was noted that the contract negotiations are now complete. Coop is in the implementation phase with supplier catalogs for year around ordering.

Discussion:  It is too early to tell what the sales numbers will be for the Annual Buy at this juncture. I will be able to provide numbers at next weeks meeting. We are working on assisting schools in the finalization of their transactions. We have had some complaints about early shipments and errors in shipment from School Specialty. These issues have been addressed and School Specialty is identifying the effected parties and taking corrective action. The general response has been very positive in regards to the new system. We are collecting all comments received in hopes to better refine the terms and conditions for next years bid. Some schools still have items in the checkout phase. Coop staff will be working to finalize everything and determine total sales for the 2014 Annual Buy. Calvert asked about billing for the Annual Buy. It was noted that the payment terms are Net 45 days. However, some vendors have started shipping and billing. Fisher asked if bills received now, should be paid now. Kip informed the committee that June 1st is the first possible day for delivery, therefore, invoices do not need to be paid until July 15th. It was also noted that the delivery deadline will be extended by one week, because the ordering was extended one week.

Discussion:  The Staples catalog was made available on 5/1/2014 for live transactions in a few instances and was pushed out to all schools on the May 2nd. School Specialty, Gov Connection, Quill, and Amsan all have credentials for a multitude of locations and should be going live shortly. MNJ Technologies is having release issues with our cart conversion piece that requires all orders to be released through ESM. This issue is being worked on and should be resolved soon. Sysco is migrating to a new platform in July. The credentials are being built so that testing can begin immediately and the catalog should be live for the opening of the 2014-2015 school year. Coop staff will continue to add offerings to the shop page to meed the needs of Nebraska schools.

Discussion:  Coop staff is collecting all school recommendations and requests of the systems functionality. Upon the close of the Annual Buy we will survey schools to see what is most important to them. Kip has spoken with Dan Corazzi (ESM’s CEO) and he has indicated that they will work with us on the development of these requests within a reasonable manner. These developments will not come at any additional cost.

Discussion:  The new reporting tool is in testing in our training environment. Once it is ready for deployment (one to two weeks) we will provide access to schools and create a video tutorial that will be hosted on our shop page along with a host of additional video resources.

Discussion:  School Specialty was fulfilling the delivery of product prior to the terms and conditions requirements. Thus, no school will be obligated to acknowledge receipt prior to June 1st with the bid calling for NET 45 day terms. Coop staff will be available throughout the summer to assist schools with any delivery issues and questions.

Discussion:  The deployment of Issue View has been slow moving. Coop staff hopes to be implementing this tool by mid-May to track shipping/product issues.

Discussion:  Kip would like to create a committee of school officials to aid in determining what schools need in the future.

Discussion:  Kip was asked to speak with other AEPA member states on discovering and exploring possible universal needs, and adoption of a unified E-Procurement software. Kip will continue to work on this and will keep the committee updated.

Discussion:  Scott Isaacson met with our legal staff on policies and procedure work this week. MSA: Item 4 regarding the admin fee should come out, as the fee is charged to vendors and not to ESUs.