Procurement Procedure No. P-080 - Software Purchases

PURPOSE

The purpose of this procedure is to define general procedures to follow when purchasing software.

SCOPE

This procedure applies to all purchases of software that will be used by SUNY Geneseo faculty, staff, and/or students.

PROCEDURE

  1. All software is restricted from being purchased with a Procurement Card, unless an exception is granted in writing by the Director or Associate Director of Purchasing & Central Services; department representatives should not sign any software agreements.
  1. Departments must consult with the CIT Department prior to moving forward with a software purchase to ensure the software does not create risks for the College and can be supported with current resources, as/if needed.  Contacting CIT also will allow for verification that a campus-wide license does not exist already. 
  1. Departments must complete and submit the Procurement Software Questionnaire with the applicable purchase requisition.  

1.  It is recommended that the purchase requisition and Procurement Software Questionnaire be submitted at least two (2) months in advance of a new purchase (or renewal) to allow ample time for the required accessibility review and procurement process to be completed, including negotiation of licensing and/or end user terms and conditions, if needed.

2.  Hosted Software: If the software application will be hosted by the software provider, the Higher Education Cloud Vendor Assessment Tool (HECVAT) must be downloaded and sent to the software provider for completion by the department purchasing the software.  Completed HECVAT is to be submitted to Procurement Services as an attachment to the corresponding electronic purchase requisition in KnightSource.

  1. Procurement Services will review the current New York State Office of General Services (OGS) contracts for software to determine whether the software application sought is available through one of the existing NYS OGS contracts.  If software cannot be procured through an OGS contract, the procurement will be made in accordance with the various General Procedures, by dollar threshold, for purchases made on the open market.
  1. Accessibility Review
  1. All software purchases, including SaS and Cloud applications, require pre review and approval by the College's Electronic Information Accessibility Committee to ensure conformance with accessibility standards. 
  1. The College's Director of Information Systems and Assistant Dean for Accessibility will perform the accessibility review. 
  1. To initiate the accessibility review, a representative from the department purchasing the software must complete the VPAT Submission - Voluntary Product Accessibility Template form when the purchase requisition is submitted when possible, but always prior to the purchase being finalized.   This procedure also applies to software licensing renewals if they have not undergone an accessibility review in the past.
  1. Approval must be granted by the Accessibility Committee before the final award for a software purchase is made.

Last updated 10/27/2023