CONSULTING SERVICES

revised: February 15, 2006

The definition of an Administrative consultant is:

• a state employee or independent contractor who performs work or a task(s) and who possesses specialized knowledge, experience, expertise, or professional qualifications, to investigate assigned problems or projects and to provide counsel, review, analysis, evaluation, or advice in formulating or implementing changes to programs or services. This includes but is not limited to the organization, planning, directing, control, evaluation, and operation of a program, agency, or department.

This is defined to help clarify the following statement, which was issued by the North Carolina Department of Administration:

• The use of individuals for instructional services, curriculum development, and academically oriented research, are exempt from the otherwise prescribed procedures.

This means that consultants used for the above purposes are Academic consultants and are exempt from the state's purchasing guidelines and review, which makes it possible for the University to entertain reasonable requests to single-source purchases. This gives the department much greater flexibility in choosing vendors and services. The use of consultants for the above purposes, however, must still be reviewed and approved, and this responsibility remains at the department/college level. In addition, any terms specified in grants, awards, etc. remain in effect. Whenever possible any contractual service should be competitively bid as this continues to be the single best method for obtaining services at the lowest prices.