Computer Hardware Purchasing Organizations Contract for Refurbished Units
The Interlocal Purchasing System and Texas-Arkansas Purchasing System, operating jointly as TIPS/TAPS, have awarded a competitive bid contract to Toronto-based computer hardware distributor CDI to purchase refurbished computers in quantity for all districts and schools that choose to use the service. The announcement was made at the 2009 National Educational Computer Conference (NECC) last week in Washington, DC.
TIPS/TAPS acts as a purchasing agent, allowing it to negotiate substantial volume discount prices by buying hardware in large quantities and passing its savings on to its participants. The program is available for use by all public and private schools, colleges, universities, cities, counties, and other government entities in the states of Arizona, Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington.
CDI offers savings on computer hardware by taking used computers, refurbishing them, subjecting the refurbished units to quality testing, and then selling them at prices that reflect deep discounts when compared with new units of identical model systems. The company said it provided TIPS/TAPS with specific preferred pricing on a full catalog of PCs, notebooks and LCD displays from three Tier-1 manufacturers--Dell, HP, and IBM/Lenovo--as well as mobile notebook cart solutions and interactive whiteboards.
In addition, CDI offers a three-year warranty, extendable to five years, on all of its refurbished computer products purchased by schools through TIPS/TAPS. All program members can buy from CDI at the prices and terms the company contracted with the program.
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Scott Aronowitz is a freelance writer based in Las Vegas. He has covered the technology, advertising, and entertainment sectors for seven years. He can be reached here.