Purchasing Through ITC

The Information Technology Center at MSU operates a self funding store to centralize and coordinate technology purchasing for the University.  Benefits to the University resulting from the use of this model include:

1.      Cost savings to the University resulting from:

a.       Special pricing agreements negotiated with vendors.

b.      Aggregation of purchases resulting in volume discounts.

c.       Leveraging of spot market conditions to take advantage of purchasing benefits related to market conditions and the timing of purchases.

d.      Technical purchasing expertise available through the store staff which relieves the greater MSU faculty and staff of the necessity to invest the time to do the in-depth technical and purchasing research necessary to locate the most appropriate equipment at the best price.

e.       The elimination of the duplication of purchasing research by multiple departments needing similar equipment.

2.      Increased technology transfer from one department to another and one MSU campus to another fostered because the ITC Store acts as a central clearinghouse for equipment and can therefore connect departments within the institution that may be using or interested in using the same or similar equipment.

3.      Infrastructure coordination – Central purchasing and pre-purchase approval allows proactive analysis of the impact of planned technology purchases relative to existing core computing infrastructure, operation and future initiatives to enhance compatibility, minimize potential disruption of MSU’s core computing operation.