General ERAC Guidelines for Product Marketing Support
Once a product has been evaluated by ERAC, vendors have the opportunity to access ERAC’s promotional channels to share preferred pricing offers with our members.
All ERAC member offers have one thing in common:
- All offers must be for ERAC members only and vendors must sign an exclusivity agreement, guaranteeing that the ERAC
price will be the lowest price offered to K-12 schools or districts in the province of British Columbia and will be exclusive to ERAC
members.
- Failure by a vendor to honor the exclusivity of the agreement will result in the termination of the agreement.
- Where an agreement is terminated, ERAC will communicate the reasons for termination by means of an INFO ALERT to all ERAC contacts and a notification in at least one edition of E-update.
Once vendors have agreed to an exclusive ERAC offer, there are 4 promotional options:
- ERAC Introductory Offers can be made available on products which have been positively evaluated but are judged to have limited potential for a long term ERAC Preferred Pricing agreement. These will be promoted to members as a short-term offer, for up to 4 month following the evaluation.
- Evaluated products for which ERAC believes there is potential for a long term ERAC Preferred Pricing Agreement are open for negotiation.
These products must meet the following criteria:
- There must be a significant existing installed base provincially, which should include a minimum of 3 districts including at least two of our larger districts or a clearly defined subset of ERAC members.
- An acceptable number of ERAC members must make a commitment to allocate funds to purchase the product.
- The opportunity must exist for substantial uptake - at least 20% of the intended user base (districts, teachers, students, etc.).
- The discount offered must be better than the best discount offered to our biggest district.
ERAC Preferred Pricing Agreements will be for a 2-year term and they will be promoted for the duration of the agreement. - ERAC may opt to make a Provincial Purchase on behalf of the Ministry or on behalf of ERAC members where a large scale ERAC member uptake or significant sales volume is assured. ERAC may issue an RFP or RFI when making a purchase in excess of $75,000 even if there is a sole supplier.
- Where there is not a significant existing install base but the product is considered to be potentially important to BC, vendors can arrange an ERAC-Facilitated Pilot Offering for selected members. Pilots must meet the following criteria:
- The product must be available to participating members at no charge for the length of the pilot, which must be a minimum of 5 months;
- The vendor agrees to a structured assessment process, created and monitored by ERAC through this period.
Each pilot will have unique ERAC support as suitable to the nature of the product and as determined during the process.
