DOI Enterprise Hardware FAQ’s

Question: Can I make advance payments for our standard three year Warranty (which is built into the unit price of the hardware item) and the optional one to two years of additional Warranty?

Answer: Yes! Please see the GAO case below:

B-249006, April 6,1993
Appropriations/Financial Management
Appropriation Availability
Purpose availability
Specific purpose restrictions
Warranties
Appropriations/Financial Management
Appropriation Availability
Time availability
Advance payments
Warranties

Payments for warranties presented as separately priced items are not prohibited by the advance
payment statute so long as they represent a reasonable charge for the vendor’s acceptance of deferred
liability and are not designed to provide periodic maintenance service Agreements for the
provision of periodic maintenance service, even if labelled as extended warranties, are prohibited
by 31 U.S.C. 0 3324.

Question: Why are prices on the BPA's for Desktops/Servers/Printers signifantly higher then I can find them at other retailers?

Answer: This comes up a few times a year and what usually is the case is that the comparisons are not identical. You can not use a commercial price shopper like PriceGrabber because they do not offer computers that are 1) Trade Act Compliant, 2) have a three year Warranty and 3) FOB Destination vs. FOB Origin (shipping is included). Please reference this memo that our Contracting Officer sent to the DOI CIO's last year.

Also, please visit our sharepoint site at:

https://portal.doi.net/CIO/ERM/HAT/default.aspx

and join us in the General HAT Discussion forum.

Please note:

1. You must be on a DOI network or using VPN for the link to work (no public Internet access)
2. When prompted for your username enter your email address and for your password enter your Active Directory password.
3. If you belong to a Trust Bureau, you must contact your HAT representative or CIO's office and request a provisional user account in the DOI Active Directory in order to access the DOI Sharepoint Portal.

To remove the username password prompts, you can add the DOI Portal Web site to your Internet Explorer Local Intranet security zone. To do so, while you are at a page in the DOI Portal:1. Pick Tools -> Internet Options
2. Click on the Security tab
3. Click on Local Intranet
4. Click on Sites
5. Click on Advanced
6. In the add this website to the zone: field type in https://porta.doi.net if it already isn't in the field
7. Click Add, the close all three dialog boxes.You should no longer be prompted for a username/password when accessing the sharepoint site.