Bid Aggregation Categories

N.J.S.A. 18A:18A-4: Contract awarded by board of education resolution

a. Every contract for the provision or performance of any goods or services, the cost of which in the aggregate exceeds the bid threshold, shall be awarded only by resolution of the board of education to the lowest responsible bidder after public advertising for bids and bidding therefor, except as is provided otherwise in this chapter or specifically by any other law.

Definition of Aggregate--Law 

Aggregate means the sums expended or to be expended for the provision or performance of any goods or services in connection with the same immediate purpose or task, or the furnishing of similar goods or services, during the same contract year through a contract awarded by a purchasing agent. N.J.S.A. 18A:18A-2 (l).

Example of Aggregate—Simple Example 

The high school principal walks into the Office of the School Business Administrator and requests to purchase $11,000 worth of televisions. The School Business Administrator says, “We have to go out to bid!” The school principal insists that since the $11,000 is less than the district’s bid threshold, the School Business Administrator does not have to bid for the televisions. 

• Audiovisual Equipment—High School The School Business Administrator reminds the high school principal that televisions are part of a class of goods known as audiovisual equipment. The School Business Administrator reminds the school principal that the High School also wishes to purchase additional AV equipment, including projectors, speakers, mixers, sound systems, recording equipment, headphones, and headsets. The total estimated cost of the AV equipment needed for the High School is $40,000. 
• Audiovisual Equipment--District-Wide The School Business Administrator reminds the school principal that the aggregate amount is determined by the District’s needs for AV equipment. 
  • High School AV Equipment $40,000 
  • Middle School AV Equipment $30,000 
  • Elementary Schools Total AV Equipment $100,000 

The total estimated cost of the AV equipment bid, district-wide, is $170,000, which, in the aggregate, exceeds the $44,000 bid threshold. And that is why the School Business Administrator has to advertise for bids for $11,000 of TVs. and should utilize the Bid Aggregation Category feature in SchoolFi

The Bid (Aggregation) Categories Tab:

This screen summarizes Purchase Order Line Items by Bid Category. There is an Excel icon for each bid category that exports the detail. 

After you click the Analyze Data button, the following data displays: 

By clicking on each data button with a number, you can view the details of that number.  The data in each detail set can be exported to Excel and you can export the full detail for each line to Excel using the button at the end of each row.

You can set the quote / bid threshold for your district on this tab 

Granting Access to exceed the quote / bid threshold

• Requisition users in the Employee portal - if you would like an employee to have permission to view the Bid Exempt checkbox when entering and submitting a requisition, check this box. For all users who do not have this box checked off, they will not see the Bid Exempt checkbox.  This can be found on the employee's demographic tab.

• SchoolFi - for direct enter purchase orders on the SchoolFi side, users must have this permission added to their Security Role in order for them to see the Bid Exempt checkbox on the Purchaser Order entry screen.

Bid Aggregation Category Options

Once a bid category is created, there are a few options:

• You can restrict the vendor(s) that can be used within the bid category when creating a requisition (not a direct enter purchase order)
• You can automatically check the Bid Threshold Exempt box on a requisition
• You can automatically check the Bid Exempt box on a direct entry purchase order

Reviewing / Analyzing Bid Aggregation Category POs to the Bid Threshold

This tab will also assist the district is reviewing purchase orders that are charged against the District's bid threshold on a category-by-category basis.  

In the following example, there are a few different scenarios relative to the threshold amount and the remaining amount that can be charged to the bid category before reaching the bid threshold. 

1. In this sample, the district has not charged any purchase orders to the respective bid category and the Threshold Amount, accordingly, is zero.  In addition, because no purchase orders were charged to the respective bid category, the Threshold Remaining is $44,000. 
2. In this sample, the district has set up the bid category as exempt and as such, the threshold amount and remaining columns reflect the exempt status.  
3. In this sample, a portion of the $40,635.00 purchase orders were set as exempt.  $6.315.00 of the $40,635.00 were not set as exempt and are charged against the $44,000 threshold leaving $37,685.00 in bid threshold remaining for the school year.  To view the details, you can click on the radio button for the $40,635.