005-200 Delegation of Approval

005-200 Delegation of Approval Mississippi Code Section 25-53-21 (f) specifies that the ITS Executive Director shall receive, review, and promptly approve or disapprove all requests of agencies of the state for the acquisition of computer equipment or services, which are submitted in accordance with rules and regulations of the authority. Section 25-53-25 (2) allows ITS to delegate approval for certain acquisitions as follows: The authority [i.e. ITS Board] may establish policies and procedures for the purpose of delegating the bidding and contracting responsibilities related to the procurement of computer equipment or services to the purchasing agency. Such policies and procedures must address the following issues: a. Establish categories of equipment or services affected; b. Establish maximum unit and/or ceiling prices of such procurements; c. Establish reporting, monitoring and control of such procurements; and d. Establish other such rules and regulations as necessary to fully implement the purposes of this section. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to imply exemption from the public purchases law, being Section 31-7-1 et seq. Delegation of Approval is the term for ITS' delegation of the responsibility and approval for certain routine information technology acquisitions to the agencies and public universities under ITS purview. Purchases may be made under these delegation procedures without prior ITS approval. Examples include certain categories of procurements below the bid threshold, purchases made from the ITS Express Products Lists, and delegation of the procurement process to state institutions of higher learning (public university) up to a defined dollar limit, in accordance with Mississippi Code Section 25-53-5 (b) to give consideration to the special needs of such institutions due to their teaching and research functions. For specific delegation dollar amounts and categories, refer to 015-010 Procurement Limits Policies: State Agencies and 015-020 Procurement Limits Policies: IHLs. The delegation amounts are different for state agencies and for public universities. For public universities, the approval of technology purchases below the cost threshold requiring ITS involvement is specifically delegated to the public university’s CIO, who must approve all such acquisitions, whether acquired competitively or through sole source certification. Because ITS has delegated the procurement process to IHLs for certain dollar amounts above the threshold for competitive bidding and sole source certification, this delegation also includes giving the IHL the authority to advertise and issue an RFB, ITB, RFP, or other competitive instrument, evaluate responses, make an award, and negotiate and execute a contract. The advertisement for competitive procurements issued by IHLs must be made in accordance with ITS Statute 25-53-5 (o) (in a newspaper of general circulation in the State). Note that, for any delegation or exemption, ITS requires that the state agency or public university follow ITS Statute 25-53, along with IT Procurement policy and procedures, as documented in this Handbook. For example, all ads and procurement instruments must be published on the Internet in a location that is readily searchable by and available to the general public, and published on the Mississippi State Government Transparency site located at https://www.ms.gov/dfa/contract_bid_search.