Learn more about how states can leverage purchasing power to support 1:1 learning. Explore resources to help your state benefit from the MLTI contract.

In 2013, the State of Maine, in cooperation with NASPO and partnership with the States of Vermont and Hawaii, leveraged a decade of experience to establish the Multi-State Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) cooperative purchasing contract. This contract was used by the State of Maine to power the fourth major deployment of its statewide one-to-one program. The contract is unique in that it is an agreement for services – it’s not a commodity purchasing contract, but instead a suite of services that empowers states and school districts to work together with industry partners to support teachers and students with advanced technology for teaching and learning.

This fall, Maine will begin the 19th year of its statewide one-to-one program. In 2013, Maine used the contract to deploy over 80,000 tablets (iOS) and laptops (Mac OS and Windows 10) to students and educators in every public school district in the state and numerous private and parochial schools as well.  In 2016, the State of Nevada successfully used the contract to provide devices and all of the necessary support to empower its Nevada Ready 21 program that has enabled over 20,000 students and teachers in Nevada schools to be equipped with one-to-one Chromebooks. 

MLTI OFFERS A TEMPLATE FOR OTHER STATES 

The multi-state cooperative purchasing Request For Proposal (RFP) used by the State of Maine in 2012, along with Amendments to the RFP, the Master Price Agreement, and other details can be found here:

As part of the Digital Bridge K-12 project, the original author of the RFP, Jeff Mao, has provided annotations that offer insights into the language used in the RFP.

A ROADMAP FOR STATES TO LEVERAGE THEIR PURCHASING POWER

The MLTI contract acts as a basis for establishing a comprehensive solution for states and school districts for one-to-one anytime, anywhere learning. It includes not only devices, but also includes warranty, repair services, technical support, asset management, software, carrying cases, replacements, project management, and professional development for teachers, IT staff, and school leadership. All common platforms, including iOS (iPad), Mac OS, Windows, and Chrome have been deployed via the contract already, providing states the flexibility to negotiate contracts to provide equipment that match school district infrastructure and pre-existing platforms and software.

The pricing and deployment of the solutions were planned out to allow states a staged approach depending on their needs and state policies. The contract laid out a roadmap for states that can begin simply as a state master contract that allows school districts to leverage the contract for local purchasing. States can take a further step and act as a purchasing aggregator and ensure that all school districts are aware of the opportunity to join the purchasing cooperative. The larger the cohort, the better the potential savings. 

Additionally, states can provide management and coordination at the state level –  for example, the coordination of regional professional development provided through the contract. Ultimately, like both Maine and Nevada, states can pass legislation that appropriates funding to support the programs and other centralized services, and ensure that regional and state broadband networks are available. The specific details of these solutions will vary from state to state, and professional development programs should be adjusted to meet current needs – but the heavy lifting has already been done. 

To learn more about the agreement, watch our webinar on How to Leverage State Cooperative Purchasing Power to Support 1:1 Learning