About PASCAL

February 12, 2024

The South Carolina State Procurement Office has posted the solicitation for the PASCAL Shared Library Services Platform.  The RFP may be found here: https://webprod.cio.sc.gov/SCSolicitationWeb/solicitationAttachment.do?solicitnumber=5400026047

Inquiries about the solicitation should be directed to the procurement officer listed in the document.

The South Carolina Commission on Higher Education serves as PASCAL’s fiscal agent.  PASCAL procurements are governed by the SC Consolidated Procurement Code.

Vendors are asked to follow these guidelines when working with PASCAL:
 

PASCAL will process library orders, invoices, and renewals.

Orders must be processed by PASCAL in order for libraries to qualify for consortial pricing and licensing. Invoices are sent to and paid by PASCAL. Subscription renewals are coordinated and communicated by PASCAL. These procedures are detailed below under “Ordering procedures.”
 

Clearly state direct and discounted pricing.

The consortial pricing offered to our libraries must be discounted significantly off the direct-to-library price.
 

FTE-based pricing models are strongly preferred.

FTE-based pricing is the most successful model for PASCAL, especially when those FTE tiers address the 80% of our libraries that serve less than 3,500 student FTE. For detailed information and statistics on PASCAL institutions, see About Our Libraries.
 

Avoid participation-level and first year discounts.

These discouraged marketing devices prevent our libraries from receiving accurate quotes or result in large price increases. Instead, we suggest free trial access, demonstrations of your product, and permanent deep discounts for early adopters to generate interest.
 

Establish a standard subscription term.

Annual subscriptions to your product can begin on the 1st of either January or July. Preference is for a January 1 start date due to member budget cycles. All PASCAL libraries’ subscriptions must have the same standard term and renew on the same date.
 

Extend monthly prorating to new subscribers.

Orders initiated after the standard subscription term begins are prorated on a monthly basis, generally from four (4) to fifteen (15) months to align with the standard subscription term end date. This grants new subscribers’ access to your resource on the first day of the month after they order it. We calculate the monthly rate based on the cost of an annual term.
 

Negotiate a single consortial license with PASCAL.

PASCAL signs one license on behalf of all our libraries. Institution-specific amendments or order forms/agreements are usually signed by PASCAL as well.
 

Keep PASCAL up-to-date with product pricing and content.

PASCAL uses this information to provide accurate quotes to libraries. The pricing you provide PASCAL should have a fixed expiration date and be updated annually. Changes to resource content and features should be communicated to us as well.
 

Follow best practices when working with individual libraries.

The PASCAL Consortial Purchasing Committee recommends these Vendor Best Practices for working with our libraries.
 

Ordering procedures

1. PASCAL will compile a list of members who are subscribing to the resource and send it to the vendor including quoted price for each institution and total price.
2. Order notification from PASCAL will include: Institution, Product, FTE, Term Start, Term End, Cost, Institutional Contact Name | Email | Phone and Institutional IP Range (and additional information as needed).
3. If the vendor needs an order form to be signed, PASCAL prefers to sign it on behalf of the library.  Please send order forms to atrepal@pascalsc.org
4. The vendor should always invoice PASCAL as the "bill to", with the library as the "ship to".
5. If this is your first license with PASCAL, you will need to register with State of South Carolina Procurement Office as a vendor so the invoice can be paid.

Bill to addresses:

• PASCAL, Suite 400, 1122 Lady St. Columbia, SC 29201
• office@pascalsc.org