Advisory Note regarding Microsoft Software Select Agreement

CMOD has signed a new Select Agreement with Microsoft Ireland that provides a discount to the non-commercial public sector of a further 10% off Microsoft’s Level D pricing plan. Level D pricing was already available to the Government Sector and represents the lowest cost pricing available.

Please note that the Select Agreement is not a procurement vehicle and does not alter the necessity for public bodies to fully comply with Irish and EU procurement law and procedures. Organisations must also comply with the procedures and guidance set out in CMOD circulars and information notes.

Registering to use the Agreement:
Organisations must register with any Irish-based Large Account Reseller (LAR) and complete an “Affiliate Enrolment Form” in order to avail of the new discount levels. A competition to select a LAR to facilitate the enrolment process is not required and an affiliation or other fee is not chargeable. In addition, completion of this process does not imply that any business has or will be awarded to the LAR or that any expenditure will arise as a result of the affiliation.

Details of current Irish-based Microsoft LARs for the purpose of affiliation are available at Annex A below.

To register as an Affiliate to this Agreement, organisations will need to provide their selected LARs with:
• Primary Contact name, email, phone number (signs the agreement)
• Notices Contact name, email, phone number (administers the agreement once it is signed)
The Primary and Notices contact can be one and the same person if desired.

The Affiliation Enrolment is signed electronically. The signatory receives an email with an embedded web link to a form which is “e-signed”. The process from signup to enrolment activation can take up to 48 hours.

Procuring software under the Agreement
Organisations must procure software in the normal manner after they have enrolled as an Affiliate to the agreement. As heretofore, procurement opportunities must be offered to all providers (i.e., cannot, without sufficient justification, be limited to Irish-based LARs) and must be advertised on eTenders and, where applicable, the OJEU following appropriate approvals.

Procurement competition documents must highlight that the procuring body has enrolled as an Affiliate to the Agreement and seek pricing in line with the terms of the Agreement.

A suggested format is:

“[YOUR_ORGANISATION_NAME_HERE] has enrolled as an Affiliate to the Microsoft Select Agreement ( Agreement Number: S6329424) signed by CMOD, Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. Affiliate Enrolment Number is [AFFILIATE_NUMBER_HERE]. Any prices quoted in response to this request for proposals must be no less favourable than those available under the terms of that Agreement.”

Additionally, a breakdown of the pricing details should be requested that provides the procuring body with the normal Level D pricing, the pricing after the application of the 10% discount provided under this Agreement, and any additional discounting being applied by the respondent.

Further details
Please contact 01-6045018/ gn@gov.ie if you have any queries or comments in relation to this advisory note.

Annex A - Irish-based Microsoft LARs

(for affiliation purposes only)