2025-2026 MELA Minutes

Dr. Krista LeBrun, MCCB, mentioned that there is no 100%. That she would share that, when it comes to a sole-source procurement, we can't have more than a three-year contract, per ITS. She stated that, like with Smarter Services, when the contract was modified with a start date, it actually gave us a two year, nine-month contract just because there was no way to get us to it. She mentioned that we had an RFP for Canvas, so there is a five-year contract with them. They have a July 1st start date. She mentioned that if t group has preferred start and end times, maybe she could come up with two points during the fiscal year as preferred start and end. She mentioned that she can start working towards getting the contracts aligned to those dates again as they come up for renewal. She mentioned that AspireEDU is a July 1st, and it's about to make it to their board. She asked if the group wanted to change that, which may delay the implementation of AspireEDU. Dr. LeBrun mentioned that if she reaches out to ITS and asks them to modify the AspireEDU contract, that will table it from going before their board, because she would likely have to redo the business case to modify the dates, and that she would probably have to re-advertise it with new start and end dates for that contract. Kim Harris, NECC, mentioned that she thinks we should look at more of the impact of the student and instructor usage when we look at the dates. She mentioned that some of those would put us in a bond if we were changing with AspireEDU, but it has less of an impact on the users. She mentioned that she agrees with Shalon that we do need to evaluate and pick some dates. Dr. Krisra LeBrun, MCCB, mentioned that there has been some conversation about trying to get CopyLeaks. Once she has gotten full authority to go ahead and notify CopyLeaks of our intentions to move forward with that procurement, she can see about making sure that we don’t lose access before July 1st. She mentioned that it will be up to CopyLeaks, because they would essentially be providing the service for free if we’re not under contract until July 1st. She mentioned that if we all want a different start date for CopyLeaks, that changes things as well. The first year may have to be a July 1st start date due to the tight timeline, but we could modify years two and three. She mentioned that she needs to know that as she’s working through procurement. She mentioned that as this body comes to an agreement on the date, let her know and she’ll move forward.