The Utah Procurement Code provides that a procurement may be made without competition when the University determines that there is only one source that can reasonably meet the University’s need for the required supply or service, as described in Utah Code Ann. § 63G-6a-802.
The Purchasing Department has received the following request for sole source procurement
Product and/or Service to be purchased: Ascend Software
Sole Source Supplier: UC Innovation, Inc.
Earliest Proposed Purchase Date: March 29, 2024
Buyer Name: Matt Cooney
Sole Source Justification:
Ascend software by UC Innovation is the primary application running on the Department’s Salesforce platform. Salesforce/Ascend are the functional core of the Enterprise Advancement CRM. Ascend frames/structures Salesforce in terms of Advancement concepts and needs. All of the Dept.’s configuration and development for the past five years has been built upon Salesforce/Ascend as the base. The transition to Ascend in 2018 took a full five years and cost approximately $1 million in implementation fees—it required approximately 120 individuals from campus working on the effort over a span of approximately 5 years, with about 30 of those FTEs committing at least 50% of their work to the project. It would be cost prohibitive to transition to a new advancement software.
This sole source will be valid for 5 years and will exceed $50,000 per year.