E. Agreements authorizing the institution to conduct experimentation or testing of hardware, software or related services shall require the written approval of the office of research and systems. This category includes agreements which permit the experimental use of such products or services without warranty at little or no cost to the institution and for the benefit of the vendor. The institution may not agree to use such experimental products or services in place of existing ones for ordinary academic or administrative purposes. The institution may not agree to hold the vendor harmless from any liability, notwithstanding the fact that the state may not be paying for the use of the experimental products or services. Generally, contracts for the acquisition of hardware should be awarded pursuant to the bidding process.
Some service agreements are also subject to the bidding process.
Provisions required by Policy No. All bid specifications must be incorporated by reference in all contracts awarded pursuant to the bidding process. All bid specifications and all other relevant contract documents must be attached to contracts that are submitted to the Board for approval. Generally, the legal right to use software is obtained in the form of a license agreement. The permissible use of the software is governed solely by the terms and conditions stated in the license agreement.