Question of the Month

This year’s training conference will be held at the Mountaineer Race Track and Gaming Resort in Chester, West Virginia, on April 19-23. Similar to last year, the conference’s invitation list includes business representatives who may elect to participate in the workshop sessions and one-on-one consultation session and have an added impact by being an exhibitor at the product exposition.

The Mountaineer Resort is able to provide, under one roof, lodging for nearly all of our guests requiring accommodations and more than 100 exhibit spaces for those businesses wishing to showcase their products and services to our agency purchasers.

"Training continues to be a central focus for our agency," said Purchasing Director David Tincher. "Aside from the focus on education, an added benefit of this conference is the networking opportunities which present themselves among the Purchasing Division staff, agency purchasers and the business representatives."

The lodging rate offered by Mountaineer is $74 per night. Lodging arrangements are to be made by the participants by calling 1-800-804-0468.

The registration fee for this year’s event has been decreased from last year to $125 per participant for state agency representatives. This fee includes several group meals, all workshop sessions and materials, and attendance to the product exposition. Please note that the registration fee for the vendors is at a different rate.

All participants, both agency purchasers and business representatives, will be arriving on Monday, April 19. The product exposition, which is scheduled for Wednesday, April 21, will conclude the vendor portion of this conference. However, agency purchasers will continue with workshop sessions through mid-day on Friday, April 23.

For more details, visit our website later this month or contact Diane Holley (558-0661; dholley@gwmail. state.wv.us) or Debbie Watkins (558-3568; dwatkins@wvadmin.gov.)

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Fixed Assets Mandatory Seminar Set

For more details, turn to the Director's Comments of this issue of The Buyers Network.

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The Purchasing Division is in the process of scheduling a mandatory training workshop for all agency inventory coordinators.

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Outside of his job, Mike keeps busy working on his second degree in accounting from West Virginia University-Parkersburg and works weekends preparing taxes for his father’s firm in Ripley.

The Purchasing Division is pleased to welcome Mike to our staff and wishes him the best of luck in this buying position and his other educational aspirations which he is pursuing.

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VENDOR SPOTLIGHT...Meet Some of Our Valuable Business Partners!

Introducing SW Graphics of Parkersburg, WV

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Supplemental Vendor Report Provides Means for Searching by Tax ID

As a result, there is now a second vendor report in Information Expert. The supplemental report is called C-VENDOR-FEIN-NUMBER-CROSS-SUP. The bad news is both reports have to be searched before concluding that a vendor is not registered; but the good news is that a tax ID method of inquiry could be continue to be offered.

If you have questions regarding this matter, please contact Jo Ann Dunlap at (304) 558-0059 or Dan Miller at (304) 558-2314.

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Gov. Bob Wise Proposes Bold Legislative Agenda for 2004

In his fourth and final State of the State Address, Gov. Bob Wise proposed a bold agenda, focusing on health care and education. Wise called on the Legislature to secure the state’s tobacco settlement funds by taking the money in one lump sum of $630 million. He also proposed increasing the cigarette tax by one penny per cigarette and raising smokeless tobacco tax to 20 percent.

"Tobacco use remains the greatest threat to the health of West Virginians. We’ve seen that tough action can get results, but more needs to be done," Wise said. Once again, Wise introduced legislation to lower the legal limit for drunk driving to .08.

He also noted the importance of continued investment in education. Rather than requiring a 9 percent budget cut from colleges and universities, Wise asked for a 2.5 percent cut and also called for more investment in research.

As a show of his support, he called for an establishment of research funds, starting with an additional $10 million. He indicated that he plans to expand the Research Challenge Grant Program, hire top-quality faculty and researchers, purchase cutting-edge equipment and create research opportunities for students.

For many of our customers who have not visited our offices recently, the Purchasing Division’s reception room has a whole new look. There hasn’t been any renovations made nor a different color of paint on the walls, but there are three new employees working in this area who are welcoming our visitors.

Monica Matthews, Lisa Vaughn and Jennifer Byrd have all joined the Purchasing Division staff within a six-month period, but are learning quickly how our division operates.

Since they receive many questions both from those visiting the offices as well as individuals who call with inquiries, their learning curve has been much quicker due to necessity.

Each of these individuals has a specific job which they are responsible in performing, but they are all physically located in the reception room and work together in welcoming our customers.

Monica is our telephone/receptionist. She answer the telephones and logs incoming requisitions and change orders into the Purchasing systems. She then distributes the documents to the appropriate buyer. Prior to coming to the Purchasing Division, she worked as a legal assistant for a local law firm.

Lisa serves as our bid clerk/receptionist. She sends out bid packages upon request, assists in answering the telephones and receives bids upon arrival. When she receives bids, she clocks them in and secures them until the bid opening date. Prior to joining the Purchasing Division, she worked for nearly 20 years at the Go-Mart Business Office in Gassaway.

Our newest staff addition to the reception room is Jennifer Byrd, an office assistant. She is the vendor registration clerk and is responsible for receiving, reviewing, and processing all vendor registration forms, renewals, and checks received.

All three of these employees work in the Administration Unit of the Purchasing Division under the supervision of Jo Ann Dunlap. In addition, Beverly Toler, who previously worked as the bid clerk, has changed positions within the Administration Unit and is now handling the encumbrance and distribution of purchase orders/contracts. Joan Adkins continues to handle microfilming of all of our purchasing files.

According to Jo Ann Dunlap, Manager of the Administration Unit, this unit provides many different services to state agencies, the vendor community and staff. "As a result, members of the Administration Unit must learn several different programs and be able to step in and perform those duties at any given time as well as other assignments," said Dunlap. "This is a great staff and I am extremely pleased with their performance and dedication."

MONEYWISE...Tips for the Thrifty

Outsourcing at Home

While some people clean and do laundry because they enjoy it, others do it because they think they can’t afford to have it done outside of the home. But when people work long hours, the trade-off is not wise. Studies by the Department of Labor show this is how much you have to earn to make it worthwhile to hire someone:

Laundry: $12,000
Dog Grooming: $40,000
House Cleaning: $57,000
Grocery Shoping: $85,000
Car Washing/Vacuuming: $140,000
Closet Organizing: $190,000

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Effective January 5, 2004, the schedule for the shuttle between the State Capitol and the Laidley Field parking area expanded to all-day service through the 2004 Regular Session of the Legislature, concluding on March 13, 2004.

The shuttle will operate Monday through Friday, departing Laidley Field at 7 a.m. through 6:15 p.m., when the shuttle leaves Building 5 for its final daily run.

The shuttle will be extended until 7 p.m., from March 1 through March 13, 2004, the last two weeks of the session.

The shuttle stops are listed as follows:

Each stop is served about every ten minutes. The shuttle does not operate between 11 a.m. and 11:20 a.m. or weekends and state holidays.

A shuttle easily accessible to the physically disadvantaged (including a wheelchair lift) will be utilized. Visitors are urged to use the Laidley Field visitor parking area or the metered parking spaces in the Division of Motor Vehicles lot at the Piedmont Road entrance when doing business at the State Capitol Complex. The shuttle service is provided free of charge.

• The Building 2 Parking Garage on California Avenue was recently demolished, due to safety concerns.

• The 2004 model year vehicle request was due into the Fleet Management Office in January. According to Fleet                           Manager Janice Boggs, the criteria for replacing vehicles are that the model must be a 1999 or older or have at least 120,000 miles.

• Individuals who would like to be put on the mailing list for The Buyers Network monthly newsletter should contact Debbie Harrison at (304) 558-2315 or by email at dharriso@ wvadmin.gov.

• Last month's issue of The Buyers Network listed an incorrect telephone number for Boise Cascade's Sharon Covert. Her correct number is 755-8172.

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CURRENT STATEWIDE CONTRACT UPDATE

Contracts to be Renewed

Contracts Extended

Purchasing Division Staff
For questions concerning these contracts listed, please contact the appropriate buyer:

File 21
Charlyn Miller
(558-0067)

File 22
Pam Jones
(558-0468)

File 23
Chuck Bowman
(558-2157)

File 31
Evan Williams
(558-2596)

File 33
John Johnston
(558-0492)

File 41
Ron Price
(558-2316)

File 42 
Betty Francisco
(558-0468)

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Questions?...Just Ask!

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