Annual Plans & Annual Plan Agreements

What is an Annual Plan?

What is an Annual Plan Agreement?

Preparing Annual Plans

• Annual Plans must be written in memorandum form and include the following information:
• List of types of services to be used under the plan.
• The dollar amount of services to be used for each category.
• The dollar amount requested as an agency limit per contractor per year (not to exceed $5,000).
• A justification of need, and reasons why state employees cannot fill this need.
• The method used to establish the rates, order services, and bill for services.
• How the agency intends to set and meet small business, targeted group business, and economically disadvantaged business goals for expenditures covered by the plan.
• How the agency intends to evaluate contractors used and maintain a record of the evaluation to use in future decisions.
• Once an Annual Plan is approved, it is assigned a T-Number which is activated in SWIFT.  Once all this has been completed, a signed copy is returned to the agency.  With an approved Annual Plan, the agency can then proceed to executing Annual Plan Agreements as the need arises. 

Preparing an Annual Plan Memo

• The agency prepares an Annual Plan ahead of time for the upcoming fiscal year. See the Annual Plan Memo Sample. 
• The contract coordinator reviews the proposed Annual Plan and, if approved, sends it to the Agency head or designee for approval.
• The contract coordinator sends the signed Annual Plan to OSP.
• Office of State Procurement reviews and either approves, disapproves, or modifies the Annual Plan.
• If not approved:   OSP will communicate with the contract coordinator detailing the reason(s) the plan was rejected. The agency should make the necessary changes and resubmit its Annual Plan to OSP.
• If approved:  OSP will assign a T-Number, sign the Annual Plan, and request the SWIFT team to activate the T-Number in SWIFT.
• Your accounting unit files a copy of the approved plan for use when reviewing the actual encumbrance document against the plan.
• Effective July 2020, OSP will no longer accept amendments to Annual Plans unless an exception is granted. The contract coordinator should reach out to OSP if an amendment is needed. 

Services that may not be suitable for an Annual Plan Agreement:

1. Consulting services alone - Although consultation is generally considered a professional and technical service; based on the nature of annual plans, consultation services (services that produce ONLY a planning or policy recommendation report) do not fit.
2. Translation or Interpreting services - Translating and interpreting services are not considered to be professional and technical services, so an Annual Plan Agreement cannot be used for those services.
3. Any service that requires insurance or involve services that are considered higher risk - If insurance is required, the agency should use the standard Professional/Technical Services Contract instead of the annual plan agreement. Services that are considered higher risk should follow the P/T Contract process so that additional terms are in place that will protect the State. Reach out to Risk Management with questions pertaining to risk assessments or insurance needs. 
4. IT Related Services that can be performed by MN.IT - Before preparing an annual plan agreement for any IT related services, the agency should contact MN.IT to confirm that MN.IT does not perform the services. The agency should retain a copy of MN.IT’s response confirming the proposed work is outside of MN.IT’s scope of services in the contract file.
5. Services available through OSP’s Enterprise Master Contracts - Agencies must use Enterprise Master Contracts available through OSP if those programs can provide the annual plan service.