Contract Process:
The KETS project is currently supported by numerous vendor-partners who have contracts with the Commonwealth of Kentucky for products and services including workstations, file servers, printers, networking components, software, and technical training to name a few. These contracts range in length from three to five years and can be renewed on an annual basis. The annual renewal and final expiration date for different products are staggered and do not come up for renewal or bid at the same time, or even in the same year, thereby spreading out the time frame for the need to re-bid products and services.
There is not an "approved" KETS vendor list that new vendors can be added to. All current KETS vendors have received contracts to sell products and services by participating in the Model Procurement process the Commonwealth of Kentucky uses.
To find out more information on how to do business with the Commonwealth of Kentucky and how the Model Procurement process works, you can access The Finance & Administration Cabinet's website at http://www.state.ky.us/agencies/adm/mars/howto.doc.
On-Line Bids:
All current bids for KETS products and services are produced through the Division of Materials and Procurement Services and posted for review on the Commonwealth of Kentucky's E-Commerce site at https://eprocurement.ky.gov. You can also register at this website as a potential bidder by clicking on the appropriate link.
To access the Division of Materials and Procurement Services online listing of all current Invitations for Bid, go to their E-Commerce website above and once there, click on "Browse Business Opportunities" which will then take you to a web page that requires you to choose "FAC DIV MAT AND PROC SVCS" from a drop-down menu which will take you to the listing of active Invitations for Bid. All active bids are available for online viewing of contract requirements and contain contact information as well as closing dates and times.
You can also access KETS specific bid postings by visiting KDE's homepage at http://www.education.ky.gov and choosing "Doing business with KDE" from the main navigation menu on the left hand side of the page. You can then select "Bid/Proposal Opportunities" to see what bids, if any, are currently available.