March 24, 2016 Finance Officers Newsletter

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March 24, 2016   

FINANCIAL AND BUSINESS SERVICES


State Public School Fund Allotment Overdraft Reports (LEAs)


We netviewed the “State Public School Fund Allotment Overdraft Report” (JHA356EG) for the current year, FY 2015-2016, as of the February 2016 processing period, on Tuesday, March 15, 2016.  Please submit your refunds and pay the penalties, effective March 2016 (processing period 9) by Tuesday, March 29, 2016, to avoid additional penalties.

 

The prior year Allotment Overdraft report, Company 8000, for June 30, 2015 as of February 2016 processing period, was netviewed on Thursday, March 17, 2016.  Please submit your refunds and pay the penalties, effective March 2016 (processing period 9) by Thursday, February 25, 2016, to avoid additional penalties

 

If you have questions, please contact Roxane Bernard at (919) 807-3725. 


The Monitoring Letter for February 2016 (Charter Schools)


The Monitoring Letter that includes the report of Invalid Accounts Used as of February 2016 is available for review.  Please review the report and correct any invalid account codes before the next charter school data files upload on Monday, April 4, 2016.

 

If you have questions, please contact Roxane Bernard at (919) 807-3725. 


Benefits of North Carolina E-Procurement for LEAs


We have recently been in conversations with the State’s E-Procurement team in the Department of Administration. They are excited as to how E-Procurement can help local education agencies and charter schools save significant amounts of money that can be used to address many needed projects in your schools.

 

We would like to share with you the benefits of leveraging the State’s NC E-Procurement for your purchases.  Given the context and constraints surrounding public school budgets, savings and efficiencies from resources like NC E-Procurement can help our schools support their own spending priorities and best meet the needs of our schools, students, and staff. 

 

To learn more about how your school can benefit from NC E-Procurement please encourage your team, or all your executives to attend NC E-Procurement’s Public School Executive Webinar on Wednesday, April 13th, from 9:00 – 10:30 am or 2:00 – 3:30 pm. To register for either webinar, please email eptraining@doa.nc.gov.

 

These webinars will be a convenient way for North Carolina LEAs to learn more about NC E-Procurement and how to take full advantage of its benefits without traveling.  They have created two sessions to ensure that finance officers and executives can address their priorities relating to NC E-Procurement; however, both sessions are open to anyone from an LEA who is interested.

 

Overview information on NC E-Procurement is listed below.  For additional questions or support regarding the use of NC E-Procurement in LEAs, please call Nick Kopcho from the Department of Administration Division of Purchase and Contract at (919) 807-5422 or Scarlett Swain from NC E-Procurement at (919) 899-6168.

 

State Term Contracts and NC E-Procurement


Recent State efficiency programs further emphasize the need for and benefit of the K-12 schools efficiently utilizing State Term Contracts (STCs), and participation in NC E-Procurement is a simple way to access these benefits and savings while responding to the Governor’s call for action.

 

Governor McCrory’s initiative called “NC Government Efficiency and Reform” (GEAR) recommended that LEAs “Leverage Buying Power for School Districts” and found the following:

-  K-12 schools incurred an increased cost when purchasing outside STCs due to reduced purchasing power.

-  As the State has been focused on strategically sourcing new contracts, “LEAs (K-12 Schools) should leverage this effort at no additional implementation cost and realize significant savings.”

-  “Estimated savings based on strategic sourcing programs in other state school systems is $15-20 million annually.”

 

North Carolina E-Procurement provides tools to improve the way state agencies, local governments, and public schools within North Carolina purchase goods and services.  As an NC LEA or charter, your schools are eligible to take advantage of the benefits from NC E-Procurement at no cost from the NC Department of Administration, including:

-  direct access to State Term Contracts via online catalogs and the associated use of online requisitioning;

-  integration with the Department of Administration’s Office of Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUB) for daily updates from the Central Statewide Vendor Registration System and ease of required HUB reporting;

-  electronic purchase order history for increased accountability and ease of reordering;

-  configurable, electronic approval flows based on your LEA’s processes and preferences; and

-  use of an informal eQuote system that allows users to send and receive informal quote information electronically, avoiding wasted time and effort and improving the integrity of competitive bidding processes.

 

NC E-Procurement provides the convenience and efficiencies of an online shopping experience with the pricing of state-negotiated contracts that can offer significant savings for LEAs. NC E-Procurement support personnel work with State (Purchase & Contract/P&C and Department of Information Technology/DIT) Contract Administrators and the State Contract Vendors to create NC-specific catalogs and monitor these catalogs for compliance with the established pricing:

-  Statewide term contracts (STCs) for items commonly used by public schools include office supplies; paper; maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) items; and fuel.

-  There are more than 400 catalogs and ordering instructions that cover over 100 STCs.

 

In 2014, Greene County Schools independently found and calculated potential savings of 23% by using STCs for office supplies.

 


FBS Web News

 

The following items have been posted to the FBS website:

 

FBS Org Chart – Updated

Make-up Days FAQ

Highlights of the NC Public School Budget 2016

Facts & Figures 2015-16

Allotted ADM for LEAs and Charter Schools

Charter School Membership by LEA – Survey Results

Grade, Race, Sex – 2015-16

Best 1 of 2 ADM

The following items have been posted to the Charter Schools website:

 

Advisory Board Meetings

Estimated Local Appropriations per Student by LEA

Charter Schools Contact Info – Updated

Applications 2017-18 & Progress Chart – Updated

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