About

Late in the fall of 1994, users of SCT software began meeting with the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) to discuss mutual opportunities that might exist regarding common software and systems. The goal of these discussions was to achieve common solutions face by each institution resulting in decreased costs. From these initial meetings, the group expanded the agenda to address how the State of Texas requirements and enhancements might be incorporated into baseline vendor systems (with vendor support), without each institution required to implement the required modifications independently.

An increased emphasis upon institutions to investigate privatization efforts, it was believed that a consortium representing member institutions in the State of Texas could result in a significant advantage for the state by obtaining services, systems, and system modifications, from a private vendor, as opposed to each institution developing its software and implementing independent modifications to the systems.

Systems & Computer Technology Corporation (SCT) was included in the discussions because they were a major provider of software in Texas. SCT serviced a significant share of the State of Texas higher education software market with over 35 public institutions using their products. With such broad diversity and coverage, it was determined by the initial participants to expand the negotiations to include all public higher education institutions in Texas.

With these objectives in mind, the DIR continued negotiations with SCT during the winter and spring, resulting in signed letters of intent by all member institutions and then a final agreement, which was signed June 30, 1995. Institutions signed interagency contracts with DIR for commitments to software license purchases. The agreement resulted in a contract with SCT to provide benefits, as listed below.

This agreement was unique to the State of Texas. Other statewide agreements have a single administrative agency to which all the participants report. This agreement is with multiple institutions. This agreement recognized the autonomy of the individual institutions and their decision-making process while at the same time achieving the wholesale market pricing for the State of Texas.